Refueling in Slovenia will become more expensive next week. The new cabinet will waive the price ceiling that the previous cabinet introduced a month ago and will introduce a two-tier pricing model next Tuesday. According to this, the fuel prices at the gas stations along the highway are formed freely on the market, outside the highways they are regulated by the state that determines the margins. The new arrangement is valid for twelve months.
How the new model will concretely affect fuel prices should not be known until next week, as this will depend on the prevailing market price, but a price increase is expected. The government is aiming for prices comparable to those in Croatia while being lower than Austria and Italy, Slovenian Prime Minister Robert Golob said at a news conference on Wednesday.
“The current system is unsustainable”
According to Golob, if the new price regime had already been in effect on Tuesday, the regulated diesel price would be around 1.80 euros, regular petrol around 1.70 euros and prices at gas stations along the highways about 20 percent higher. According to the capped price regulation, which is still in force, a liter of diesel currently costs Euro 1,668 everywhere in Slovenia, and regular petrol 1.56 Euro.
“The current system is unsustainable,” the prime minister said, referring to the multimillion-dollar claims from the fuel traders that the Ministry of Economic Affairs regularly receives. The previous cabinet promised to compensate wholesalers for the loss of turnover associated with the price ceiling. If the government had not responded, the claims would rise to EUR 600 to 800 million by the end of the year, according to Golob.
Fuel well below market price
According to the Prime Minister, the current capped prices were far below market prices. With the new model, everyone – the state, fuel traders and also consumers – should share some of the burden of higher prices in global markets. “We are looking for the balance that consumers can still tolerate,” says Golob.
In order to absorb the expected rise in fuel prices, it will be decided on 1 July to take emergency measures for affected groups, the government leader announced. Commuters, farmers and public transport, among others, can count on these measures. The government also plans further measures against inflation in the near future, including food, electricity and heating prices.
Source: Krone
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