Fuel prices across Kenya declined in April as the new report by EPRA, the oil and gas authority Energy and Petroleum Regulatory Authority, shows the average cost of a litre of petrol is now Ksh190.38 from Ksh199.15 in the period from March 2024.
Diesel prices also fell to the cheapest level of the year by Ksh10 to retail at Ksh180.38 per litre in Nairobi – but the coastal areas of Mombasa, Kilifi, Likoni and Kwale have the most low-cost diesel fuel in the country as drivers there buy at about Ksh178/L.
For those who use kerosene for lighting and cooking, it will cost them Ksh170.06 today after steadying Ksh188.74 for one month straight. What a reprieve!
Falling Kenyan petrol prices are boosting hopes that the worst wave of economic hardships caused by inflation and declining shilling power against the dollar is fading, but is it the same with her neighbours Uganda and Tanzania in East Africa?
Is petrol cheaper in Kenya, Uganda or TZ?
Kenya has the most expensive gas in East Africa, while Tanzania has the cheapest. A review done earlier in February 2024 by its Energy and Water Utilities Regulatory Authority (EWURA) set the prices of super petrol in Tanzania’s Dar es Salaam at Tsh3,051 ($1.18) and in its areas like in Tanga and Mtwara, having one of the highest fuel prices in that country, the same petrol is going for Tsh3,064 ($1.19) and Tsh3,112/L ($1.21), in that order.
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That means that in Tanzania, motorists in regions with the most expensive fuel prices buy a litre of petrol at about 153.80 Kenyan shillings, which is more by roughly Ksh40 in such places of Kenya like Narok, Nyeri, Namanga and Kiganjo where it retails at Ksh195/L compared to the Ksh190.38 per litre in its capital Nairobi.
In Uganda, the petrol retail price is at a current level of Ush5,561 per litre, about Ksh186.56 when you convert to Kenyan shillings. That is still more by almost Ksh4, the national average price of a litre of the same commodity in Kenya.
Petrol prices are generally higher in Kenya because of the country’s tax structure.
What is the price of 1 litre of diesel in Uganda?
The average cost of a litre of diesel fuel is around Ush4,992 ($1.31) in Uganda, up from about Ush4,230 ($1.11) from the period to December 2023 and the start of the year 2024.
Aside from the taxes imposed by the Government of UG to determine the selling price of most petroleum products, their sector authorities, Uganda National Oil Company (UNOC) and Petroleum Authority of Uganda (PAU), usually take a long time to review the gasoline prices since the country is still struggling to set up refinery plants and pipelines, because it is landlocked, to cut down on the cost of refining and transporting so that its citizens can get cheaper fuel.
Even so, Uganda’s diesel prices are still lower than Kenya’s, where it goes for Ksh180.38, the same as Ush5234.41 per litre in Nairobi. That is more by 8 Kenyan shillings as it is Ksh172.03 when you convert to KES price in Uganda.
However, of the three countries, Tanzania has the cheapest diesel prices, where the average cost in costly areas is Tsh3,354 per litre of diesel, an equivalent of Ksh170, bearing in mind that in Uganda, it is Ush4,992, an equivalent of 172 Kenyan shillings, and Ksh182 in parts of Kenya where diesel is expensive.
