• April 2025 petrol (1.52/litre) rank Zimbabwe as the fourth most expensive fuel market in Africa and a SADC outlier
  • Taxes and levies consume 0.54/litre (34% of price), far exceeding Botswana’s 17% and South Africa’s 29% 15
  • Reform Roadmap to Slash Prices by $0.44/Litre

Harare- Zimbabwe’s fuel prices in April 2025, set at $1.53 per litre for petrol and $1.52 per litre for diesel in USD by the Zimbabwe Energy Regulatory Authority (ZERA), eased from March’s $1.54 and $1.55.

Yet, the country clings to its rank as Africa’s fourth priciest fuel market and a high-cost anomaly in the Southern African Development Community (SADC).

With Triangle Limited already registered as an ethanol producer alongside Green Fuel, the failure to leverage this competition exposes deep rot in the fuel industry, exorbitant taxes, monopolistic distortions, and logistical decay.

This analysis, rooted in data, tears into Zimbabwe’s pricing mechanics, stacks it against regional and global benchmarks, and maps a hard-hitting fix, maximising Triangle’s role and beyond.

In March 2025, Zimbabwe’s petrol ($1.54) trailed only South Africa ($1.59) and Malawi ($1.65) in SADC, with diesel ($1.55) topping South Africa’s $1.47 but lagging Malawi’s $1.70. Angola’s subsidies held petrol at $0.36 and diesel at $0.16, Botswana’s at $1.09 and $1.04.

Across Africa, Zimbabwe’s $1.54 petrol ranked fourth, behind the Central African Republic ($1.82), Seychelles ($1.67), and Malawi ($1.65), with diesel ($1.55) outpaced by CAR ($2.03) and Seychelles ($1.70).

April’s $1.53 and $1.52, despite Brent Crude’s 5.5% slide from $72 to $68 per barrel, sit 29% above global averages ($1.18 petrol, $1.19 diesel, April 2025 estimates). South Africa’s petrol dropped $0.39 to $1.20, buoyed by a 6% rand gain (18.23 to 18.05/$1), while Zimbabwe’s USD-only pricing, tethered to a ZiG with a 27% parallel market premium (26.77/$1 official vs. 34/$1 street), stifles global relief.

Zimbabwe’s fuel sector is a $1 billion-plus annual import vortex, 4% of its $27billion GDP crippled by a 34% tax-and-levy bite ($0.52–$0.54/litre), far exceeding Botswana’s 17% and South Africa’s 29%. Ethanol, blended at 10%, is a cash cow for Green Fuel, charging $1.10 per litre against a global $0.60–$0.70 norm, padding petrol costs by $0.04–$0.05/litre.

Triangle, registered and producing, offers ethanol at an estimated $0.80–$0.90 (cane-based, per regional benchmarks), but its market share is throttled, Green Fuel, tied to alleged government insiders, hogs 80% of supply, per 2023 ZIMCODD data.

The Feruka pipeline’s 35-year dormancy jacks transport costs from Beira to $0.10/litre (vs. $0.03 potential).

Imports hit 1.2 billion litres yearly, with no domestic refining to offset.

Globally, April 2025 sees Brent Crude at $68, down 5.5%, with OPEC+ pumping 2.2 million barrels/day extra and demand off 1.2% (IEA). The U.S. diesel runs $0.94/litre (low taxes), Germany’s $1.83 (high levies).

Zimbabwe’s M-1 import pricing (crude plus freight) should echo this dip, but taxes, ethanol gouging, and forex distortions keep it 29% above the $1.18 petrol global mean. South Africa’s 500,000-barrel/day refining and Angola’s 1.1 million-barrel/day output dwarf Zimbabwe’s zero-production handicap.

The ZiG’s official rate masks a 27% black-market gap, inflating real import costs.

To gut prices, Zimbabwe must weaponise Triangle and dismantle inefficiencies. First, cut taxes to 20% ($0.30/litre), matching Botswana, saving $0.23/litre, $276 million yearly at 1.2 billion litres.

Second, flood the ethanol market, capping it at $0.70/litre (viable with scale, per cane ethanol costs), slashing blending costs by $0.04/litre ($48 million annually) and kneecapping Green Fuel’s $1.10 racket.

Third, revive Feruka ($200 million, phased at $40 million/year) to drop transport to $0.03/litre saving $0.07/litre ($84 million yearly) and make ZERA to publish M-1 breakdowns monthly, axing opacity markups. Total cut: $0.44/litre, landing petrol at $1.09, diesel at $1.08, Botswana territory.

Zimbabwe’s $1.53 petrol and $1.52 diesel in April 2025 lock it as Africa’s fourth costliest, behind CAR ($1.82), Seychelles ($1.67), and Malawi ($1.65), and a SADC outlier against Angola ($0.36) and South Africa ($1.20).

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