Last updated on December 15th, 2022 at 11:37 am
Kenya’s newly elected president William Ruto has said that he is open to the idea of buying fuel from Russia.
Ruto made the remarks in a BBC interview on BBC Africa daily.
Mr Ruto said he’s considering all available options.
“I am now going to move on to the agenda of making sure that we have government-to-government relationships that will progressively now begin the journey to bring the prices of fuel down,” President Ruto said.
He added: “All options are available to us as a country.”
Kenya is facing a deepening economic crisis, with the cost of living rising sharply.
With fuel prizes up the prizes of other goods and services have also increased, making it difficult for most people to make ends meet.
The new government has been trying to bring down the cost of living for Kenyans.
The move to buy fuel from Russia could be a way to bring down the cost of living in Kenya.
Despite rising fuel prices Mr Ruto defended his decision last week to scrap some fuel subsidies.
He said they were unsustainable and prone to abuse.
The Russia – Ukraine conflict had ruined Kenya’s fuel subsidy system, months before William Ruto was elected.
This comes as a surprise considering that Kenya has traditionally been a close ally of the United States but there are those who argue that countries such as India and Europe are still importing Russian oil and gas and that developing countries have been hit hardest by the ongoing conflict.
The new Kenyan administration has been looking for ways to reduce the cost of living for it citizens.
Cost Of Fuel In Kenya
The cost of fuel in Kenya has been on the rise in recent months.
In April 2022, the cost of petrol was Ksh 144.62 per litre.
By August 2022, the cost of petrol had risen to Ksh 179.30 per litre.
