A comparative time series analysis of Zambia's petrol and diesel prices using ARIMA, SARIMA, Holt-Winters, and Prophet models. Data sourced from the Energy Regulation Board (ERB) of Zambia.
# ⛽ Zambia Fuel Price Forecasting
## A Comparative Time Series Analysis of Petrol and Diesel Prices
### Using ARIMA · SARIMA · Holt-Winters · Prophet
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> **Author:** Given Chinyama
> **Institution:** Kwame Nkrumah University
> **Date:** May 2026
> **GitHub:**
github.com
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## 👆 Click "Open in Colab" Above to View the Full Notebook
> GitHub cannot render large notebooks with embedded visualisations. Click the **Open in Colab** button above to view the complete project with all code, outputs, and professional charts.
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## 📊 Results Summary
### Petrol Forecast Performance
| Model | RMSE (K/litre) | MAE (K/litre) | MAPE | R² |
|-------|---------------|--------------|------|-----|
| ARIMA(1,1,0) | 12.91 | 10.76 | 28.26% | -2.43 |
| SARIMA(1,1,0)(0,0,0,12) | 12.95 | 10.80 | 28.37% | -2.45 |
| Holt-Winters | 20.56 | 17.25 | 45.44% | -7.71 |
| **Prophet** | **3.77** | **3.14** | **9.54%** | **0.71** |
### Diesel Forecast Performance
| Model | RMSE (K/litre) | MAE (K/litre) | MAPE | R² |
|-------|---------------|--------------|------|-----|
| ARIMA(1,1,0) | 12.65 | 10.58 | 28.68% | -2.50 |
| SARIMA(1,1,0)(0,0,0,12) | 12.69 | 10.62 | 28.80% | -2.52 |
| Holt-Winters | 20.09 | 16.86 | 45.84% | -7.82 |
| **Prophet** | **3.64** | **3.02** | **9.52%** | **0.71** |
> 🏆 **Prophet achieved the best performance on all metrics for both Petrol and Diesel — 81%+ better RMSE than the worst model.**
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## 📅 2025 Fuel Price Forecast (Prophet — Best Model, ZMW per litre)
| Month | Petrol (K) | Diesel (K) |
|-------|-----------|-----------|
| January 2025 | 47.21 | 45.77 |
| February 2025 | 48.17 | 46.69 |
| March 2025 | 49.01 | 47.51 |
| April 2025 | 50.05 | 48.51 |
| May 2025 | 51.14 | 49.58 |
| June 2025 | 52.28 | 50.68 |
| July 2025 | 53.32 | 51.67 |
| August 2025 | 54.43 | 52.76 |
| September 2025 | 55.55 | 53.85 |
| October 2025 | 56.52 | 54.80 |
| November 2025 | 57.58 | 55.82 |
| December 2025 | 58.42 | 56.62 |
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## 📁 Project Overvi …