Government ministers in Senegal have been banned from all non-essential foreign travel following the rise in the price of oil resulting from the conflict in Iran, the prime minister has announced.
Speaking at a youth rally on Friday, Prime Minister of Senegal Ousmane Sonko said that the current cost of a barrel of oil was approaching double what had been budgeted for.
Senegal’s move is the latest response from the continent to the oil price rise, which has seen countries reducing fuel levies and rationing electricity.
Elsewhere on the continent, this week South Africa’s government responded to the rising oil price by reducing the tax it charges on petrol in an effort to limit the increase of the cost of fuel at the pumps.
Fuel shortages in Ethiopia have forced some government institutions to send employees on annual leave. South Sudan has started to ration electricity in its capital, Juba, while Zimbabwe is increasing the ethanol content in its petrol.
