The price of diesel in Romania is unacceptably high and, given that its increase was rapid at the beginning of the conflict in the Middle East, I believe that we should come up with an equally rapid reduction after the prices of the finished diesel or gasoline product have decreased, said Deputy Prime Minister and Acting Minister of Agriculture and Rural Development, Tanczos Barna.
He stressed that, unfortunately, it was not decided to extend the measure limiting the commercial mark-up.
“Regarding diesel, unfortunately, we do not have an extension of the measure to limit the commercial mark-up. There were many discussions and arguments for and against when this measure was introduced. I am an economist, I believe in the free market. At the same time, the state, in critical moments, must intervene, regulate and regulate certain deficiencies if the free market takes prices into a dangerous zone. This regulation no longer exists. What is unacceptable from my point of view is that during the period when the price of a barrel returned below the pre-war price, that is, when the war in Iran broke out, it was somewhere around 71-73, the pendulum swung in this range. Today, the price of a barrel is still there. So there too, the peak of 110-120 dollars per barrel has been passed. Under these conditions, the price of diesel is unacceptably high,” the interim minister argued, quoted by Agerpres.
In his opinion, if the price of fuel rose quite quickly when the war in the Middle East broke out, it should also fall just as quickly, given that international prices have fallen.
“I have had several discussions with the largest operators on the market. I cannot say they are 100% right. I do not think that Platts or the quotations for the finished diesel or gasoline product should influence the price at the pump in this way. There is room for improvement and I think that if the increase is rapid, let’s not say very rapid, because I have to accept that during that period of March there were operators on the market who tried to keep the price down and go for a gradual, staged increase, not very steep, but even under these conditions the increase was rapid, we should also come up with an equally rapid reduction after the price of crude oil dropped. A market adjustment is needed, even if they really have to pay 30 manats in additional excise duty compared to June 30 or 29, when the regulation of the surcharge on operators on this market was in force”, explained Tanczos Barna.
