Government has disclosed that if commodity prices for fuel had not been hiked, the country could have had a deficit of about thirty Million US dollars.

Chief Government Spokesperson Dora Siliya says fuel prices could have gone higher if the twenty million US dollar Fuel procurement from Saudi Arabia had not been made.

Ms Siliya, who is also Information and Broadcasting Services Minister, says the hike took place because the procured fuel was in very limited quantities.

Ms Siliya has also attributed the hike to the fact that Zambia does not produce fuel and is not in control of the prices.

She further explains that transportation costs incurred while transporting the fuel from the Port also adds to the cost of the commodity hence the hike was unavoidable.

Yesterday, the Energy Regulation Board (ERB) revised upwards the prices of fuel effective Tusday midnight.

Petrol was increased to sixteen kwacha six ngwee from the current twelve kwacha seventy two ngwee representing a two kwacha thirty one ngwee increment.

Diesel increased to fourteen kwacha sixty five ngwee from twelve kwacha one ngwee representing a two kwacha sixty four ngwee.

As for Kerosene, it has been increased to eleven kwacha thirty four ngwee from eight kwacha eighty five ngwee representing a two kwacha forty nine ngwee.

And low sulfur gas has been hiked to sixteen kwacha ninety four ngwee from the current fourteen kwacha thirty ngwee representing a two kwacha sixty four ngwee.

In a statement obtained by Money FM News, ERB Board Chairperson Raymond Mpundu says the increment was necessitated by the high prices of crude oil on the international market and the depreciation of the kwacha against the US Dollar.

Mr. Mpundu says these two factors have prompted the board to increase the fuel prices as without taking any action, government would incur a loss of about US$29.8 million.