Kenyans will enjoy lower cooking gas prices if Parliament adopts a proposal in the Finance Bill 2023 to scrap three taxes from the essential commodity.
According to a dispatch from State House on Thursday, the administration of William Ruto would urge Parliament to waive the 2 per cent Railway Development Levy (RDL), 3.5 per cent Import Declaration Fees (IDF) and the 8% Value Added Tax (VAT) on cooking gas.
“To reduce the cost of liquefied petroleum gas (LPG) and make it affordable, reduce the use of biomass fuel and destruction of our forests, the Bill proposes to exempt LPG from VAT, RDL and IDF,” the dispatch read.
Before June, the Finance Bill 2023 will be introduced in Parliament.
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The proposal to reduce cooking gas prices comes when commodity prices are at an all-time high, with the average retail price of a 13-kilogramme cylinder being Kes 3,300.
President William Ruto instructed the Ministry of Energy to start developing plans in February to lower the cost of cooking cylinders and increase the country's use of LPG within the following three years.
“We will allocate money that will enable us to reduce cooking gas prices, we will do away with taxes and enable our women to cook without thinking about their health,” Ruto said.
President Ruto stated that household LPG use in Kenya is higher than the African average of 3 kg per capita but lower than the global standard of 10-15 kg per capita, stressing that this is a significant step towards clean domestic energy use.
The country's LPG usage increased from 93,600 metric tonnes in 2012 to 373,865 metric tonnes in 2021, according to the 2023 State of the Petroleum Industry report.
However, it acknowledged that the reintroduction of the 16% and 8% VAT in 2021 and 2022, respectively, has led to a decline in consumption.
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