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Business Reporter—

THE country has adequate fuel stocks to last into 2017 and the Reserve Bank of Zimbabwe will ensure availability of foreign currency to import the precious liquid, a senior official has said.This follows reports that the country was struggling to pay for its fuel supplies due to diminished nostro balances.

However, Secretary in the Ministry of Energy and Power Development Mr Partson Mbiriri said the fuel situation is actually improving and Government will maintain that to avert shortages.

He acknowledged the country

has been facing foreign currency challenges, which affects not only fuel procurement but the importation of all capital goods.

“In a situation of limited inflows of foreign currency and low exports, there are bound to be challenges, the situation affects all imports not only fuel,” said Mr Mbiriri at the ISO 9001:2008 certification of Petrotrade in Harare yesterday.

“It is true some service stations ran out of diesel or petrol at some point, but they restock the same day or the following day. This is far from a total stock out.

“We have adequate stocks at various depots in the country, public or private to last us well into 2017. Unfortunately because of the strategic nature of the product we cannot talk figures, this is classified information.

“Believe it, this technocrat cannot lie to the nation,” he said.

A total 80 percent of the fuel that comes through the Feruka Pipeline from Beira is consumed in Zimbabwe while the remainder goes to Malawi, Zambia, Botswana and Democratic Republic of Congo.

Mr Mbiriri added the RBZ, commercial banks, fuel traders and other stakeholders are working together to ensure the country has enough supplies of fuel.

He, however, called on all stakeholders to shift debate from negativity towards enhancing availability of foreign currency to ensure constant supply of fuel by local traders.

“These stocks are in bond, they belong to international oil traders, local companies buy from international traders for distribution on the local market.

“This requires foreign currency and local oil companies can only procure as much fuel in line with the foreign currency allocated to them,” he said.

Fuel is the biggest consumer of foreign currency in the country. Every other litre of the commodity is imported except for ethanol from Chisumbanje.