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Felex Share Senior Reporter
Government is arranging enough financing for the supply of fuel and the temporary stock-outs in the country will end in the next few days, Finance and Economic Development Minister Professor Mthuli Ncube said yesterday. Fielding questions after yesterday’s Cabinet meeting, Prof Ncube said Government was on top of the situation.

Some service stations have been without fuel in the past few days, with queues in cities and towns.

“We are aware of the hitches in the fuel supply on the market and this has to do with timing in terms of payments and supply of the commodity,” said Prof Ncube.

“I am happy to say that enough letters of credit and other payment forms have been arranged for the supply of fuel, but you get one or two types of delays logistically in terms of the delivery of the fuel. The issue should resolve in the next few days. We just hope we can be patient.”

Prof Ncube said the country was experiencing forex shortages.

“Also recall this last quarter of the year every year is the time for forex shortage in the normal cycle of foreign currency earnings for the country,” Prof Ncube said.

“We always have a bigger demand compared to supply in terms of forex demand, but we are glad to say we are on top of it and we will arrange enough financing for the fuel.”

The stock-outs being witnessed emanate from delays in foreign currency allocation and when the forex is eventually released, it takes some time to arrange the transport logistics to deliver fuel to the service stations.

The country is still constrained in terms of foreign currency, while there are many competing demands on the available foreign currency.

Government has several structures in place with fuel suppliers such as Sakunda Holdings, Independent Petroleum Group (IPG), Glencore, Engen and Total.