/ 8 June 1999

ZIM RAISES FUEL 32%

ZIMBABWE’S labour leaders Thursday warned that government’s decision to increase the price of fuel by up to 32% will hurt workers. Petrol price increased by 27%, diesel by 32% and aviation fuel by between 6% and 8%, on Thursday. It is the second hike in eight months. Further price rises will be effected after every three months as government desperately tries to shore up the National Oil Company of Zimbabwe (NOCZIM) whose daily loss stands at Z$14-million. “The high increases in the price of fuel is a further burden to the people of Zimbabwe at large and the work force in particular, which might boomerang in the face of the government sooner or later,” said Morgan Tsvangirai, secretary-general of the powerful Zimbabwe Congress of Trade Unions.

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