Zimbabwe's fuel consumption declines

Zimbabwe's fuel consumption declined considerably over the past year due to the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic, the country's energy regulator said Friday.

According to the Zimbabwe Energy Regulatory Authority (ZERA), petrol consumption in the country declined by 12.53 percent in the first three months of this year, compared to the same period last year.

In the first three months of this year, the country consumed 163 million liters of petrol, down from 212.9 million liters of petrol consumed during the same period last year.

In terms of diesel, consumption declined by 23.4 percent from 119.7 million liters consumed in the three months up to March last year, to 104.7 million liters during the comparative period this year.

ZERA board chairperson David Madzikanda attributed the decline to lockdown measures implemented by the government in response to the COVID-19 pandemic.

The government imposed strict lockdown measures for the greater part of last year, including curtailing intra-city, inter-city and cross-border movement of people.

Businesses were also closed except for those in the essential services sector.

The government again imposed a total lockdown in January and February this year following a second wave of the pandemic.

The economy has begun to slowly pick up following the lifting of the lockdown in March, as the country is also accelerating the vaccination program that was launched in February after the country acquired vaccines from China.