Fuel crisis cripples Zim

0 has remained hot air as the scarce commodity completely disappeared from fuel stations but readily available on a thriving black market where a 5-litre gallon was retailing for anything up to $2 million.
An official with Exor told The Zimbabwean that the situation was “very serious” and that a resolution to the current crisis was “unlikely in the foreseeable future.”
“The industry is likely to face frequent shortages and in fact stock levels are currently so low that it will take some time to re-build the country’s reserves.”
Amid the crippling fuel crisis now pushing the country to the brink, oil companies and the business sector are calling on individuals and companies to conserve the country’s dwindling stocks.
Zimbabweans have been urged not to make unnecessary journeys and even to use bicycles in order to preserve the precious stocks of fuel. Industry has agreed to target supplies to key sectors such as agricultural exports, which earn the foreign exchange needed to buy more oil.
President Robert Mugabe recently blamed the situation on foreign banks hoarding hard currency, but most people here point the finger instead at corruption in the state oil-importing company, NOCZIM. An industry source told The Zimbabwean that NOCZIM has been importing fuel without paying its bills and foreign creditors had now cut off supplies.