The price of liquid gas has jumped to AFs90 (over $1.1) per kilogram from Afs 45 (50 cents) in just a few weeks as the weather gets colder.
The government gas distribution centers in the city are still selling each kilogram of gas for Afs45, but the price in private shops differ from one place in the city to another, according to a finding by TOLOnews.
TOLOnews also determined that the profit from one ton of liquid gas increased by $140 in a day by raising the price from Afs66/ kg on Saturday, January 11, to Afs70/ kg on Sunday, January 12.
“The way is closed. Vehicles will arrive in a week. The reservoirs are empty,” a local investor, Haji Baba said.
“The government has the capacity to sell the reserved gas (directly) to the traders so they deliver it to the market and prevent a price hike,” another investor Basit said.
Sources told TOLOnews that there are 14 gas importers who fix gas prices in the local markets.
“Some individuals–inside traders–are manipulating the prices in some cases,” said Ahmad Shah, deputy head of the gas sellers union.
According to Kabul’s chamber of commerce and investment, the market is controlled by gas importers but the prices are fixed by some “unknown” individuals.
But an official within the fuel and gas authority told TOLOnews that the department that has been formed to set prices for fuel and gas does not have a chairperson and has been established only recently.
“The government should pay attention to this matter and find out why the gas price in the free market is Afs90, while the government gas is Afs45,” Kabul resident Mohammad Zarif Naseri said.
“The price hike is unprecedented,” said Kazim, a Kabul resident.
