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About 90 per cent of Gambian truck drivers were said to be hightailing it to Senegal to buy diesel as pump prices in The Gambia shot through the roof.
The Gambia government last week effected an unannounced significant increase to pump prices.
The price of diesel has galloped from D64.78 to D73.78.
Pump price of petrol meantime has registered a massive D9.24 increase as it jumped from D69.62 to D78.76.
Meanwhile, according to the President of Gambia Transport Union (GTU), Omar Ceesay, the increase in diesel price has now left the majority of truck drivers with the difficult option of resorting to Senegal.
“Ninety per cent of truck drivers are now going to Senegal to buy diesel because it’s cheaper there,” Mr. Ceesay told JollofNews Thursday.
According to sources, Senegal pegged the pump price for diesel at around D58 to D60 per litre.
And, the GTU president believed the relatively cheaper diesel price in Senegal was the result of meticulous planning and strategic thinking.
“They (Senegalese authorities) did their homework because Senegal is alive to the fact that diesel price is an integral linkage to economic growth,” he explained.
“We (The Gambia) are losing revenue as a result of the current pump price of diesel and this is not good for the economy,” Ceesay lamented.
