March 24, 2025
Borkena
Toronto – Ethiopia introduced major oil price changes a few days after Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed made claims at the Ethiopian Parliament that his government is highly subsidizing oil prices in the country.
The Ethiopian Ministry of Trade and Regional Integration announced this week that the price of one liter of gasoline is now 112.67 birr ( that is about $0.87 cents) This reflects a price difference of 11.20 Ethiopian birr.
Diesel prices saw a 9 birr increase. It will be selling for 107.93 birr per liter. The change is effective as of this past Sunday.
Jet fuel has seen a price change too. It is now selling 113.20 birr a liter after a 3.64 birr increase.
There was a price change in September and December 2024.
The introduction of changes to oil price is for the third time in less than a year. Gas prices used to be subsidized by the government until it started to make changes to it in 2022.
In the initial phase of action, the government removed subsidies to private vehicles and institutions while cutting down subsidies to the transportation sector by 50 percent.
In September 2024, government announced that changes to the oil price due to the change in foreign currency exchange rate will not be implemented as the country was dealing with price depreciation shock that saw the Ethiopian birr lose well over 100 percent of its value against major currencies.
Overall, the price of petrol increased by over 30 birr after three price increases in less than a year. The change for jet fuel was about 42.37 cents, as reported by BBC Amharic.
Already overburdened by skyrocketing cost of living, the price has triggered noticeable resentment. Many fear that the introduction of gas price increase will impact the price of other consumer goods in the country.
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