22 Feb 2022

The National Petroleum Fund (NPF) had a balance of P198 million at the end of January, Minister of Mineral Resources, Green Technology and Energy Security, Mr Lefoko Moagi has said.

Answering a question in Parliament, Mr Moagi said this made a net balance of P99 million. He said the fuel levy was currently set at 8.8 per cent of current pump price, ensuring that fuel prices in Botswana were still affordable and competitive while government was also able to generate some revenue.

Mr Moagi said Botswana consumed about P12million of fuel every year, thus the importance of the fuel levy on the economy.

He further explained that the NPF was used to meet the maintenance and operational costs of the strategic storage facilities for government.

The NPF is also used to purchase petroleum products for the government’s strategic oil stocks, to stabilize prices charged by the oil stocks industry and to meet insurance premiums in respect of the insurance of government’s strategic oil stocks.

He said the remittance of the NPF Levy collections was done by local oil industry companies importing and supplying fuel.

The minister explained that P324 million was collected during the third quarter of 2021/22 financial year.  The minister said some companies did not pay all the levies hence they offered a lower price.

“This omission is a cause for concern and the government is looking into this to ensure levy collection is efficient and effective to close the loophole,” he said. He said there would be increased vigilance at the borders to ensure that all levies were paid through the Botswana Unified Revenue Services (BURS).

Minister Moagi explained that the Botswana Energy Regulatory Authority (BERA) reviewed fuel prices on a periodic basis and adjust pump prices when necessary, to align with international oil prices.

“The adjustment can be either downwards or upwards, depending on the movement of international oil prices for the period under review,” he said.

The adjustment of local pump prices was continuous as they were determined by market forces, he said. Jwaneng-Mabutsane legislator, Mr Mephato Reatile had asked the minister to give an overview of the state of the fuel levy fund and NPF.

He further asked the minister to state the rationale behind fuel increments and if there would be anymore increments between now and 2024. Ends