By Yusef Taylor, @FlexDan_YT
Yesterday while stopping by a fuel station to buy petrol I learned that prices have increased by almost 2 Dalasis from May to June. The latest price of Petrol is now 57.36 Dalasis up from 55.54 Dalasis in May. For Diesel, the price per litre was 55.34 Dalasis in May, however, Diesel prices have increased to 56.17 Dalasis.
Observing the monthly prices of Petrol provided by one of the major fuel stations, Atlas Ltd, the price of Petrol has increased by over 10 Dalasis (22%) since March. The price of Diesel however, has increased by less than 5 Dalasis (9%) since March. Looking at the trend of fuel prices since March it can be seen that Petrol prices have been lower than Diesel in the months of March and April, however, in May that trend reversed with Petrol prices spiraling above Diesel.
What impact this will have on cost of transportation is left to be seen. Will transportation fees increase? Or will drivers segment their trips further? Often Taxi and Van drivers will opt to segment their trips instead of increasing transportation fees. What impact will this have on the prices of good which have to be transported for sales? What impact will the increase of fuel have on the economy?
According to GlobalPetrol Prices.com ‘the average price of gasoline [petrol] around the world is 1.31 U.S. Dollar per liter’ as of 3rd June 2019. In today’s exchange rate [49.50 GMD per Dollar] that equates to 64.85 Gambian Dalasis. In Nigeria the price of petrol is 20.29 GMD meanwhile the price of petrol in Senegal is 58.91 GMD.