Report: Fuel scarcity hits Ethiopia amid plans to stop subsidy

Fuel shortages at filling stations are worsening in Ethiopia, as motorists endure long hours in efforts to refill.

According to a Bloomberg report on Tuesday, motorists in Addis Ababa, the country’s capital, were seen waiting as long as eight hours to get the product — a situation that could deteriorate later in the month.

The development comes as the government plans to stop subsidising petrol and diesel amid soaring oil prices globally.

Commuters were also said to be seen waiting for hours before they could get rides, with vehicles forming long queues around filling stations in Addis Ababa and other major towns in the country.

“I have never seen such kind of diesel shortage before,” Kafiya Seid, a motorist, told Bloomberg in Addis Ababa.  

“Yesterday, there was almost no station in the city that was selling diesel.” 

Seid also said she had waited five hours before getting a chance to refill. 

According to the report, fuel crises are spreading to more African countries after oil prices surged following Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.

“In Mozambique, transporters only ended a rare protest after the government pledged to subsidize fares. Shortages loom in Ghana as the central bank rations dollars needed to import the commodity,” it said.

Tadesse Hailemariam, the chief executive officer of the Ethiopian Petroleum Supply Enterprise, said the crisis in the country, which also faces a shortage of foreign currency, has been exacerbated by marketers hoarding the product in anticipation of higher prices.

Meanwhile, in Nigeria, queues for petrol also resurfaced in parts of the country due to a scarcity of the commodity linked to high diesel prices which hampered distribution.