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High oil prices are straining fuel budgets and supply across Central Africa. Gabon's council of ministers said on 8 October that keeping pump prices stable cost 30 billion CFA francs (about $51 million) in September, twice the peak during the Ukraine war, and President Brice Clotaire Oligui Nguema ordered a review of the subsidy. In the Central African Republic, ten union confederations demanded wage rises or a reversal of the 1 October increase that took diesel from 1,250 to 1,400 CFA francs a litre, while Burundi cut weekly petrol rations for private vehicles from 30 to 20 litres. Governments are caught between rising subsidy bills and unrest over higher pump prices.
Nigerian Bulk Electricity Trading (NBET) began paying 729 billion naira (about $547 million) of legacy debt to power generators and gas suppliers on 9 October. The payment, made through a second series of bonds, includes 402 billion naira in cash and the rest in non-cash bonds, and covers 11 generating companies against eight in the first round in January. It brings the total raised under the government's 4 trillion naira power-sector bond programme to about 1.23 trillion naira, while the industry puts its overall claims at 6.8 trillion. Clearing arrears helps generators pay for gas and maintenance, but new debts will build up unless tariffs and bill collection cover costs.
Water stored in Mare-aux-Vacoas, the main reservoir of Mauritius, has fallen to 35.9% of capacity from 88.6% a year ago, L'Express reported on 9 October, cutting its daily supply from about 110,000 to under 61,000 cubic metres. All reservoirs were 57.6% full against 88.1% a year earlier, and some households in the central highlands have gone more than three days without running water. The price of heavy fuel oil burned by the Central Electricity Board (CEB) rose 57.5% between January and September, while 100 megawatts of capacity is under maintenance ahead of a summer peak of up to 610 megawatts. The twin shortages raise the risk of power cuts and higher costs for the state utility.
