A few questions pertaining to the government’s announcement on the increase in petrol prices:
1.
Why such a drastic increase? A 40% hike in fuel prices will affect everyone, regardless of which income group they belong to. People were expecting an increase of between 20% to 30%. Such a drastic increase would also result in the increase in the price of other goods. And this, in turn, would result in higher crime rates.
2.
Why such a sudden increase? The government should have implemented a gradual percentage increase within 6 months to 1 year, to allow the public to adopt a lifestyle change to adapt to the new pricing. Is not better gradually decrease the subsidy, rather than yanking it from right underneath our feet?
3.
Why was the announcement made less than 12 hours before its enforcement? The government should have made the announcement in view of its implementation sometime in the near future, not a sudden announcement that will foreseeably cause panic buying amongst the general public. Which in turn caused massive traffic jams throughout the country.
Let’s not be naive: it would be unreasonable to expect the government to bear the burden of increasing global fuel prices. But there is surely a better way of introducing and implementing the inevitable price increase.
