Ethiopian Parliament Passes Law to Punish Fuel Hoarders

Ethiopian Parliament today passed a draft law to punish those who hoard and sell fuel at unauthorized locations.

The House of People’s Representatives (HoPR) approved the regulation to ensure uninterrupted supply of petroleum products. Earlier this week, Ethiopian security forces recovered dozens of fuel tankers hidden in the Afar region of Ethiopia. The oil tankers were hidden on their way from Djibouti to Ethiopia. The fuel mafia in Ethiopia creates shortage of fuel in the country to sell petroleum products at high price or it waits for the government to increase prices.

“Any person who stores petrol products outside the allowed place, found selling outside the place and shopping system of the person to be sold or found selling in containers that are supposed to cause accidents, will be sentenced to imprisonment not more than 3 years and a fine of 50 thousand to 100 thousand birr;” the new law states.

The crime of repeatedly selling petroleum products sales at price different from the one notified by the government and of mixing petroleum products with other chemicals s will result in up to 3 years imprisonment and up to 300 thousand birr fine.

On Tuesday, Ethiopian government raised prices of petroleum products by over 11%. The price hike is due to gradual withdrawal of government subsidy on fuel products.

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