Buying fuel from Russia now an option- President Ruto
Priton Omwenga
Kenya’s president William Ruto has now said he is open to buying fuel from Russia. The Kenyan president, who spoke to BBC said he is considering all available options.
"I am now going to move on to the agenda of making sure that we have government-to-government relationships that will progressively now begin the journey to bring the prices of fuel down… all options are available to us as a country," President Ruto said.
Several countries have however, in a move aimed at sanctioning Russia since the Russia-Ukraine ongoing conflict, refused to engage or buy fuel among other goods from Russia.
Some of the key challenges President Ruto faces include bringing down the high cost of fuel and food in the East Africa’s most dominant economy. The president who scrapped off the fuel subsidy defended his move by noting that the subsidy was unsustainable.
Like in other parts of the world, inflation in Kenya has accelerated, mainly due to the knock-on effects of a jump in crude oil prices. It stood at around 5 percent at the start of 2022.
In June, the finance ministry said Kenya could run out of funds to subsidise fuel costs if prices kept rising, pushing public debt to unsustainable levels.
After the subsidy, petrol rose by 13 percent, diesel to 18 percent and kerosene increased by 16 percent from a month earlier.
