Fuel prices rise for 4th time in 2 months

FUEL prices have risen for the fourth time in two months. The latest pump price hikes, ranging from 30 to 51 kuruş per litre, came into force on Tuesday, following a Council of Ministers decision published in the Official Gazette.

According to the new prices, a litre of 98 octane unleaded petrol went up from 7.09TL to 7.60TL per litre; 95 octane unleaded petrol from 6.96TL to 7.45 TL per litre; Euro Diesel from 6.52TL to 6.91TL per litre; and kerosene from 6.37TL to 6.67TL per litre.

The price increases follow rises on May 7, May 28 and June 21. At the start of May the highest price was 5.88TL for a litre of 98 octane unleaded petrol.

Ministers said they had no choice but to increase the cost of fuel due to rising global oil prices and the lack of funds in the TRNC’s “Price Stability Fund” (FİF), which has been used to subsidise pump prices in the past.

Economy and Energy Minister Erhan Arıklı said that global fuel prices have “increased very rapidly and continue to surge”.

Stating that the companies supplying fuel have to purchase it in US dollars, Dr Arıklı said: “We didn’t rise fuel prices for a long time. We tried not to pass these hikes on to the public by using all of FİF’s means.

“But since the FİF’s means have been exhausted, [these price hikes] have now been passed on to the people.”

Economy and Energy Ministry undersecretary Şahap Aşıkoğlu appeared to blame previous governments for the latest fuel price increases.

He stated that the FİF is made up of “many items” and transfers money to “many places” and that the “items in this fund have been deducted from elsewhere over the years”.

Stating that the FİF has run out of resources, Mr Aşıkoğlu said: “The fund is in a very difficult situation. Therefore, it could not cover the gas bottle and fuel hikes so this was passed on to the citizens. The FİF has a 10-year history and has been pared down . . . It is not a fund with a deep resource.

“The amount in the fund was very small, it could not cover the hikes. It is necessary to create a planned economy. We need a government with goals. If the future of this fund had been thought of three to five years ago, we wouldn’t be in this situation today.”

Economy and Energy Ministry Fuel Division officer Mehmet Coşkun stated that the fuel prices are regulated “once every 15 days” and that calculations are made by taking the “daily selling rate of the Mediterranean Stock Exchange and the Central Bank in dollars” and other factors such as costs relating to the import of fuel, VAT, customs tax, forecourts’ profits and the amount of funds available in the FİF.