Sixth ship docks at Mombasa after UAE fuel deal with Kenya
Efforts by the government to import fuel directly from United Arab Emirates (UAE) and cushion consumers will come a cropper if a proposed 16 per cent increase in fuel levy is passed by Parliament.
The value added tax in the Finance Bill 2023 comes amid a deal between the Kenya government and the MiddleEast government for fuel imports.
Energy Cabinet Secretary Davis Chirchir says the push for an increase in VAT was informed by the need to create policy uniformity in the East African region.
“We discovered that Kenya has the lowest VAT in the region, even thoughwe have the ambition of rationalising all taxes in the near future,we still are conscious about what East Africa is doing,” saidChirchir.
However, Treasury Cabinet Secretary Njuguna Ndung’u said that the government had not concluded on the 2023 Finance Bill. “The law says you have to take the opinion of Kenyans into account by taking any move, that’s the way it’s done, it’s inclined in thelaw,” Ndung’u said. The bill is currently undergoing the mandatory 30 days of public participation.
The duo made the remarks yesterday at the Kenya Ports Authority Kipevu Oil Jetty after witnessing the offloading of 100,000 metric times of super petrol and diesel from two ships imported on the government-to-government (G2G) programme from the United ArabEmirates UAE.
“If we remove the dollar volatility, then wewill be in a good position to look at the pricing revision structure, we want to move away from monthly price revisions and stabilise the supply through the government-to-government (G-2-G) programme,”said Ndungu.
Stable shilling
Chirchir announced that the government would invest heavily in storage facilities which include the revival of the Changamwe petroleum storage facility. The CS said six ships have so far docked at the port, while tanks that can accommodate 30,000 metric tonnes of fuel, are underway to facilitate storage for long-term supply of gas in the country.
The ongoing six months G2G deal will see Kenya sellpart of the consignment since for any consignment that comes 40 per cent goes to the East Africa region, which will earn Kenya more dollars.
