By Sue-Ann Wayow
ON the first day of the third school term for 2021/2022 vehicle owners will pay more for fuel at the pump.
Finance Minister Colm Imbert on Friday in a statement to the Parliament said that from April 19, fuel prices will increase.
Diesel will be increased by 50 cents and premium and super by $1.
The new prices would now be:
- Premium increases by $1 to $6.75 per litre;
- Super increases by $1 to $5.97 per litre;
- Diesel increases by $0.50 to $3.91 per litre; and
- Kerosene will cost $3.50 per litre.
Imbert said, “Cabinet decided that there should be a partial adjustment of the prices of motor fuels not, up to the full market prices but sufficient to allow an equal distribution of the cost…
“It should be noted that the adjustment to the price of diesel, 50 cents per litre is half of the increase in the price of gasoline in recognition of the fact that diesel fuel is widely used in public transportation and in the transportation of goods.”
He said, “The cost of LPG (liquefied petroleum gas) will remain fixed at $21 for a 20-pound cylinder of cooking gas for domestic consumers which is less than 25% of the true market price.”
The Ministry of Energy and Energy Industries has been tasked to look at an appropriate price for the LPG for commercial customers, he added.
Imbert also said the adjusted kerosene price was “a little over half” the true market price.
“It must be emphasised that these market price adjustments will still require a government subsidy of approximately $840 million in 2022 or half the total cost of the true market prices of fuel,” the minister said.
The Ministry of Education has announced the full reopening of physical school on April 19 due the decrease in the number of Covid-19 cases and deaths.
