The Malawi government has increased pump prices, less than a month after another upward revision.

The Malawi Energy Regulatory Authority says petrol is now selling at K539 from K485, diesel is at K521.90 from K475 while paraffin – commonly used by the rural poor – is going at K434.30.

MERA says to arrive at the decision it considered recent trends on international market.

“Since the last revision on August 10, 2012, the Free On Board (FOB) prices on the international market increased by 12.11%, 10.37%, and 10.52% on petrol, diesel, and paraffin respectively,” reads the statement.

The new prices are effective Friday, September 7, 2012.

The hike is likely to push traders, especially minibus operators, to hike their services.

The Joyce Banda administration adopted the Automatic Fuel Pricing Mechanism in which prices are determined by international market forces abandoning the Mutharika system which used to subsidise the local price when international prices went up.