Malawi Energy Regulatory Authority (Mera) has raised pump prices for petrol, disel and paraffin effective today in reaction to changes in the values of the Malawi kwacha exchange rate to the dollar and free on board (FOB) prices.

Following the increase made by the Mera Board at its meeting on Tuesday this week, petrol has gone up from K743.30 per litre to K788.30 per litre representing a 6.05 percent increase.

Diesel, on the other hand, has gone up by 6.10 percent from K722 per litre to K766.90 per litre while paraffin is now selling at K609.80 from K580.40 per litre, an increase of 5.007 percent.

In arriving at the decision, Mera observed that FOB values for petrol, diesel and paraffin went up by 18.26 percent, 19.86 percent and 16.88 percent in that order between the latest review and the previous one in May. The Malawi kwacha also traded at K715 to the dollar from K750, a 4.7 percent loss in value.

Under the automatic pricing Mechanism (APM) petroleum prices are revised upwards or downwards whenever there is a plus/minus five percent change in variables.

On the other hand, electricity tariffs have been maintained at K57.72 per unit as the automatic tariff formula change was within the minus/plus five percent band.