Malawi's fuel crisis returns with motorists sleeping at petrol stations

Motorists are sleeping overnight at petrol stations and taxi drivers have been left without work as crippling fuel shortages grip Malawi once again.

"I slept right here, and I am still here waiting to fill my tank," motorist Harry Jim said as he queued for fuel. "The fuel crisis is real."

Motorcycle rider Paul Christopher, who normally makes a living ferrying people around, said he had been unable to work for three weeks because he could not get petrol.

"If fuel comes, we will be paying the debts incurred during this period before we could survive again," he told Reuters outside a petrol station in Blantyre, Malawi's commercial capital.

Recurring problem

Fuel shortages have been a recurring problem in the southern African country for years and were a major issue in last year's election.

The situation improved temporarily after President Peter Mutharika won the vote and raised pump prices, but worsened again after the Iran war began in late February.

The government attributes the crisis on a shortage of foreign currency.

Mutharika hopes a new loan from the International Monetary Fund will help stabilise the economy, but a deal has yet to be agreed.