The Council of Ministers has announced that as part of measures to stabilize fuel prices, in addition to re-establishing the Transparency Board, it has reduced fuel excise duty by 20%.
But, how much does this decrease in value translate into?
Today, the excise tax on fuel excluding VAT is around 40 lek per liter excluding VAT. A 20% reduction in the excise tax means that it will drop to 32 lek per liter excluding VAT, meaning a saving for companies of 8 lek, which should automatically translate into a reduction in the price of fuel by at least 8-10 lek per liter, taking into account the effect of VAT.
Yesterday, oil prices rose by 10-15 lek per liter at major fuel trading points, reaching 2014 lek, the highest level since the Russia-Ukraine war crisis. On the stock exchanges, oil is trading at $100 per barrel.
At the end of February, before the conflict in the Middle East began, a liter of oil was trading locally at 170-175 lek per liter and on the stock exchanges between 65-70 dollars per barrel.