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|**Country E R**|**Pricing policy and strategy**|**Fuel supply conditions**|
|---|---|---|
||Apr and Jul 2013. In Mar 2013, government announced that it would<br>begin experimental implementation of smart cards for the<br>distribution of subsidized fuel for government vehicles starting from<br>May 1 and for the public from July 1. Continuing diesel shortages<br>for buses and trucks in Mar 2013 led the oil minister to dismiss top<br>officials at two government-owned oil companies.<br>**Protests**: Protests, sit-ins, and strikes about LPG shortages have<br>forced Egypt’s police and army to provide armed guards for gas<br>deliveries.<br>**Consequences of subsidies**: Subsidies for liquid fuels and natural<br>gas in fiscal 2007/08 (July–June) were estimated to amount to 7.1%<br>of GDP, diesel accounting for half. The budget for fiscal 2012/13<br>cut fuel subsidy allocation to LE 70 billion (US$11.6 billion) from<br>LE 95.5 billion (US$16 billion) in the 2011/12 budget. Fuels are<br>diverted to black markets or smuggled out of the country.|<br> <br>and the serious LPG shortage across the<br>country. Diesel shortages harm agriculture<br>and fisheries, and occur every year during<br>the harvest season (May). Bakeries need<br>diesel, but bread prices are controlled and<br>subsidized, making it difficult to pay higher<br>prices for diesel. In Jan 2012, panicked<br>motorists—forming long lines when rumors<br>about a price increase spread—were<br>blamed for serious fuel shortages that led to<br>one death and several injuries. Six more<br>were killed in fights over LPG cylinders in<br>Jul 2012.|
|El<br>Salvador<br>√|<br>**Pricing policy**: Ministry of Economy announces maximum LPG<br>prices for four points in the supply chain every month. Legislation<br>passed in May 2011 waived gasoline’s contribution to a stabilization<br>fund (Fondo de Estabilización y Fomento Económico) in the second<br>half of 2011 to lower prices.<br>**Social protection**: El Salvador provides cash transfer of<br>US$9.10 a month to the poor and institutions catering to the poor<br>for LPG. Beginning in Aug 2011, the recipients could choose to<br>have subsidies deposited through their electricity bills.<br>**Compensation**:Public transport is subsidized in proportion to<br>fuel prices, although fiscal problems have made it difficult to<br>continue the subsidies and the administration of President Funes<br>in 2012 was considering a proposal to cut subsidies by 40%.<br>**Information**: Ministry of Economy posts lowest prices in three<br>parts of the country every week as saving tips for consumers.|<br> <br>**Supply**: There is a 22,000 bpd refinery.<br>**Shortages**: When shortages occurred due to<br>heavy rain in Oct 2011, the Directorate of<br>Hydrocarbons and Mines of the Ministry of<br>Economy was in constant communication<br>with all oil companies to ensure 15 days of<br>stockholding.|
|Ethiopia|<br>**Pricing policy**: Ministry of Trade examines fuel prices every month<br>and adjusts them, although not regularly. Government stopped the<br>policy of subsidizing petroleum fuels in 2008 and set domestic<br>prices higher than import costs beginning in Oct 2008 to repay the<br>debt accumulated in the Oil Stabilization Fund. The price of<br>kerosene, which is untaxed and also cross-subsidized to some extent,<br>is lower than other fuel prices. Prices are frozen for months at a<br>time: kerosene prices did not change between Mar and Oct 2011,<br>and between Oct 2011 and Jul 2012 (the last month for which price<br>data are available on the Web site of Central Statistical Agency);<br>gasoline and diesel prices did not change between Jan and July<br>2012. The content of ethanol blended in gasoline was increased from<br>5% to 10% in mid-Mar 2012 to lower gasoline prices.<br>**Information**: The historical data from monthly consumer price<br>surveys, including petroleum products, used to be posted on the<br>Web site of Central Statistical Agency by location. The last month<br>for which the price information was available is Jul 2012.|<br> <br>**Shortages**: Prolonged LPG shortages in<br>2011 prompted households to turn to<br>electricity for cooking. A shortage of<br>ethanol caused a gasoline shortage in early<br>2012.<br>**Commercial malpractice**: Adulteration of<br>gasoline and diesel with kerosene is a<br>problem.|
|Gabon<br>√<br>√|<br> <br>**Pricing policy**: Fuel prices are controlled by government,<br>subsidized, and adjusted infrequently. The last price increase took<br>place in Jan 2009. Theprice of kerosene has been frozen longer.|**Supply**: There is a 24,000 bpd refinery.<br>**Shortages**: Fuel shortages have led to<br>prices rising above the official levels.|
|Ghana<br>√|<sup>**Pricing policy**: Ghana liberalized fuel prices in Feb 2005 and began</sup><br>setting price ceilings in line with world prices. A 2005 law<br>establishing the National Petroleum Authority (NPA) also<br>established the Unified Petroleum Price Fund (UPPF) to equalize<br>transport costs. A UPPF levy is imposed on each fuel, about<br>US$0.03/liter in Feb 2013. The ex-refinerydifferential,which|<br>**Supply**: Ghana has one 45,000 bpd<br>refinery. It has been experiencing financial<br>and operational problems for years, forcing<br>the refinery to shut down for technical and<br>financial reasons, including the inability to<br>secure letters of credit to buycrude. Until|