Fuel Prices in Mauritius Hit Rs 77.70 — Up Rs 11 Since Election Promises

When Mauritius's current ruling alliance was campaigning ahead of the November 2024 general election, fuel prices were a centrepiece of their pitch to voters. On 8 November 2024, Labour Party leader Navin Ramgoolam told a private radio station that petrol prices would fall by "more than 30%". Ashok Subron, now a government minister, separately pledged a cut of "Rs 20 per litre". At the time, petrol at the pump cost Rs 66.20 per litre. Nearly a year on, the numbers tell the opposite story. **What the pump prices look like today** Since 29 September 2025, petrol costs Rs 77.70 per litre and diesel Rs 78.35 — a 10% increase on previous prices. Compared to the Rs 66.20 benchmark of election season, consumers are now paying more than Rs 11 extra per litre. That is a rise of roughly 17%, not a fall of 20–30%. What makes the figure more striking is that even this increase was softened. The Petroleum Pricing Committee (PPC) — the official body that calculates recommended fuel prices based on global oil markets and local costs — had actually computed that prices should rise by more than 18%. The government capped the increase at 10% under existing regulations, absorbing the difference. **There was a dip — but it didn't last** To be fair to the government, petrol prices did fall after the election. By March 2025, the pump price had dropped to Rs 58.45 per litre — a meaningful reduction that gave consumers some short-term relief. But the fall fell well short of the promised 30%, and it proved short-lived. From April onwards, prices began climbing again, erasing the gains month by month. **What the government says** Officials point to two factors outside their control: rising global oil prices and a growing deficit in the Price Stabilisation Account (PSA). The PSA is a fund managed by the State Trading Corporation (STC) — the state-owned body that imports fuel into Mauritius — designed to smooth out price swings by absorbing losses when world prices spike. That account is currently running a deficit of around Rs 3.6 billion, meaning the government has limited room to continue shielding consumers from market prices. These are real constraints. Global energy markets have been volatile, and the stabilisation fund was already under pressure before the new government took office. **What this means for consumers** For ordinary Mauritians, higher fuel prices feed through into daily life beyond the petrol station. Transport costs rise, goods become more expensive to move, and taxi and bus operators face higher overheads. Households that depend on private vehicles — especially in areas poorly served by public transport — feel the squeeze most directly. The gap between what was promised on the campaign trail and what voters are now paying raises broader questions about how fuel pricing commitments are made in Mauritius — and how much any government can realistically deliver when global energy markets move against them. Source: ION News