The Government of Cote d’Ivoire has jacked up the prices of petrol and cooking gas.
By the announcement made in Abidjan, the pump price of petrol which was 774 CFA Francs (1.50 dollars) has risen to 792 CFA francs (1.80 dollars ) per litre.
For cooking gas, the old price for 6kg was 1,800 CFA francs (3.80 dollars) but now it is 2,000 CFA francs (four dollars), while 12kg of gas, formerly 4,000 CFA (eight dollars) is now 5,200 CFA Francs (10.50 dollars).
Also, 28kg e of gas formerly sold at 9, 000 CFA francs (18 dollars) increased to 18,525 CFA (37 dollars).
Transporters have spontaneously reacted to the price increases and raised fares.
The Director of Energy in Cote d’Ivoire, Diaby Ibrahim, however, appealed to transporters not to raise fares since the increase was minimal.
Ibrahim called for understanding, saying the government could no longer sustain the subsidy on petrol and gas.
A taxi driver, Moussa Kamakaro, said the fares would go up as the passengers had always insisted on “arrangements” before the increase.
“We hardly use the meters on our taxis because customers always insist on reduced arrangements so we hardly make any money.
“Now the gap has been closed and we have to reflect it in order to survive,” he said.
Kamakaro said he was lucky that he filled his car tank a day before the review. Another taxi driver, Issa Coulibaly, said the increase would affect food prices.
“It is a policy by the International Monetary Fund (IMF). We know they made the recommendations since October last year,” Coulibaly said.
The French West Africa country was thrown into mourning on New Year Day following the death of 62 people in a stampede at a stadium. The government thereafter declared a three-day mourning period from Wednesday.
