Cape Verde’s fuel import bill doubled in the first half, compared to 2021, to a daily average of more than 366 thousand euros, due to rising prices on the international market, according to official data.
According to the recent report of the Bank of Cape Verde (BCV), which details the imports and exports of the archipelago, the country imported more than 7,373 million shields (67 million euros) from January to June of this year in all types of fuels, compared to 3,820 million escudos (34.7 million euros) in the same period of 2021, a year-on-year increase of 93%.
In the first half of 2021, the country imported, on average, the equivalent of 189.6 thousand euros in fuel, recorded that it shot up to 366.1 thousand euros, on average, in the same period this year.
Cape Verde has no domestic refining capacity and relies on imported fossil fuels to produce around 80% of the electricity it needs.
The rise in prices on the international market had already led the Cape Verdean government to suspend the price-setting mechanism for fuel sales to consumers. However, the Government admitted that the measures to alleviate the rise in fuel prices due to the impact of the war in Ukraine will require an economic effort of 45.3 million euros by the State of Cape Verde.
The announcement was made on July 1 by the Minister of Industry, Commerce and Energy, Alexandre Monteiro, at a press conference to announce new measures to mitigate these impacts. He recalled that since the beginning of the conflict, the Government has taken emergency measures to stabilize prices, including the suspension between April and June of the fuel price fixing mechanism, which prevented families and companies from suffering an impact of more than 300 million euros. shields (2.7 million euros).
Lusa previously reported that Cape Verde imported the equivalent of 235,000 euros a day in fuel throughout 2021, an increase of almost 40% compared to the previous year, according to data from the BCV.
The country bought 9,453 million escudos (85.8 million euros) worth of fuel abroad in 2021. In 2020, a year strongly marked by the covid-19 pandemic and generalized confinement, these imports had cost Cape Verde more than 6,793 million shields (61 million euros), in fuels of various types, compared to 9,164 million shields (82.3 million euros) in 2019.
On average, Cape Verde went from the equivalent of 168 thousand euros per day of imported fuel in 2020 to 235 thousand euros in 2021, an increase of 39.8%.
As a reflection of the progressive increase in the price of oil in international markets, fuels for sale in Cape Verde increased in price by more than 37% from January to December 2021, according to official data. From June 2021 to June 2022 this increase was practically 55%.
From 2019 to 2020, with the economy growing by more than 5%, imports of fuels – also necessary for the production of electricity – by Cape Verde increased by more than 1%.
Source: Observadora
