Almost weekly increases in fuel prices are now occurring, while since the beginning of the year the price of diesel has risen by about 50 cents and the price of petrol by 40 cents, the President of the Pancyprian Association of Petrol Retailers Savvas Prokopiou told the Cyprus News Agency, expressing the view that prices will continue to rise. Closer and closer to the 2 euro barrier![/URL][/B]
[*]The Parliament unanimously passed the bill to reduce the excise tax on fuel
[*]"Attacks" by deputies against fuel companies in the plenary. "They are stealing the world"
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In particular, Mr. Prokopiou said that the formation of fuel prices "depends entirely on the global market, the fuel importing companies in Cyprus and the competent ministry that controls this process" and added that petrol stations expect possible increases every day and "e formulate our prices relatively with the profit margin being around 5 to 5.5 cents".
He said that this accuracy started in the last six months and especially since February 24 when the conflict between Russia and Ukraine started and expressed confidence that "we will not have reductions in the near future".
"Increases are coming in almost weekly so that sometimes companies for political and competition issues break their increases into two," he said, adding that since the beginning of the year the price of diesel has risen by about 50 cents and the price of gasoline by 40 cents.
He noted that at one point, for unknown reasons, a difference between diesel and petrol was formed that reached around 25 cents, only for that difference to narrow subsequently.
He also said that today the price of diesel is above 1.80 euros per litre, while the price of petrol is around 1.70 euros per litre, with the difference between them having been reduced to around 8 to 10 cents.
In addition, Prokopiou said that the sales volume of petrol stations has decreased and added that the consumer has "too long" made a reduction in extra journeys in his private vehicle.
[BR][BR]He also said that the new price increases will further reduce consumer travel and noted that the shift to electric cars is also contributing to the decline in petrol station sales.
The President of the Petrol Stores then referred to the reduction of excise duty on fuel, a development, he said, that helped mainly towards the psychology of consumers, as "as soon as the first reduction was made, the following days saw the biggest increase in the price of fuel ever seen in Cyprus", he explained.
He noted that diesel fuel increased in the following days by about 27 cents, while the decrease due to the reduction in excise duty was about a little over 6 cents on diesel and over 8 cents on petrol.
He said that "such moves by the state are welcome" and expressed the view that a formula should be implemented by the state which would fix the fixed taxes depending on the levels of fuel prices.
Regarding what will be done about possible new fuel imports in Cyprus, Prokopiou told the Cyprus News Agency that "imports are clearly a matter for the companies" and the appropriate control by the competent Ministry of Energy, noting that the petrol stations are simply following suit.
Moreover, in relation to the fact that ethnic Cypriots go to the occupied territories for fuel, the President of the Pancyprian Association of Petrol Station Owners said that "da solution has not yet been found for this issue, despite the fact that we all know that this activity is illegal".
"All these increases find the petrol station owners in a very difficult position and it is a question of survival for us," he stressed, noting that if the petrol station owners do not survive, we will return to a regime where there will be no competition.
The petrol station owners expect to be credited from March for the reduction of the excise tax
Moreover, Prokopiou questioned why the petrol station owners have not yet been credited with the money from the reduction of the excise tax, which has been made since March 8.
"We expect from this week as we have been informed that we will be credited," he added."
He said that the state when implementing a policy should be more direct and added that it is a double whammy for the petrol station owners as on one hand they are consumers and on the other hand they are petrol station owners.
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