Last Friday was a black Friday for consumers who had to face the new increased prices for four products – fuel, bus fares, parking fees in the city centre and ration rice. The main one is that of fuel, which has skyrocketed to Rs 26,10 a litre for petrol and Rs 17,25 a litre for diesel. To add insult to injury, motorists will have to face another hardship: filling stations no longer accept credit cards for payment.

The government has stressed that it is not responsible for these increases as the problem has been imported from the international level. The price of a barrel of oil has beaten all records culminating lately at 50 USD. The rise in Mauritius is thus inevitable.

The price of oil has gone up by 45% over the past six months through the Automatic Pricing Mechanism, which the government introduced six months ago. Oil prices are submitted to the international trend and are reviewed every 3 months. With the current situation abroad, it is not astonishing to see such high prices. But it is not surprising either to hear the public’s complaints.

Although most people are conscious that the Mauritian government can’t be held responsible for this increase, they nevertheless say that it could have foreseen that we would reach such a situation and taken appropriate steps to avoid major price rises. “Big companies avoid rises by cutting costs. Why can’t the government do the same?” Heeralall Sewrutun, questioned on the road, asked.

Even filling station owners are not very happy with these increases. The problem is that they are the ones to suffer from consumer discontent while they are not responsible for the problems. On the other hand, they are the ones who have decided not to accept credit cards anymore because the banks charge too much commission. This is another reason of dissatisfaction among customers, which they have to deal with.

<B>Lack of foresight?</B>

But motorists may pounce on Autogas. Taxi drivers have already been using it instead of fuel for five years. They changed their normal cars to hybrid ones, which can work with fuel or gas. Now that fuel price has increased, there is a real rush towards the gas kits. But as only three companies can supply it, the waiting list gets longer everyday.

If consumers have more or less accepted the oil prices, they’re castigating the government concerning the parking rates in Port-Louis. “This is exaggerated. The government says this will reduce traffic jams but why doesn’t it build more roads? It spends a lot of money on big projects. Why not in a fly-over?”

The increase in the price of ration rice is also widely contested. The reason may be that those consuming ration rice are already less well-off and will not be able to afford such rice despite the rise in the food aid.

People believe some of the rises could have been forecasted and included in the budget. Others declare that the government doesn’t care about the most deprived members of our society. Certain rises really looked inevitable. However, the main problem may be one of communication… If the government had clearly explained the reasons for the increase, the public may have felt less at a loss.