Government temporarily lets go of portion of fuel tax

The government recently announced that as of Monday it would let go of a portion of the fuel tax which is generally known as the government in order to prevent a fuel hike. The price of crude oil drastically went up on the world market due to recent events in the Middle East. The United States, France and Britain launched 105 missiles on Saturday, targeting what they said were three chemical weapons facilities in Syria in retaliation for a suspected poison gas attack in Douma on April 7. 1 liter of unleaded gasoline currently costs SRD 6.60 while 1 liter of super unleaded costs SRD 6.74. 1 liter of diesel reportedly costs SRD 6.25. The government has reportedly decided to cut the fuel tax with 17 cents. The Ministry of Trade, Industry and Tourism, issued a press release indicating that the government held an urgent meeting to discuss the price of crude oil on the world market. Government officials then decided to temporarily cut the fuel tax with SRD 0.17. If the government had not reached this decision 1 liter of unleaded gasoline would have gone up with 34 cents to SRD 6.77. The government is sparing no efforts in minimizing the impact of the world market price of crude oil on the local market. The temporary measure is aimed at keeping fuel affordable for consumers. Although Syria itself is not a significant oil producer itself, the wider Middle East is the world’s most important crude exporter and tension in the region tends to put oil markets on edge. “Investors continued to worry about the impact of a wider conflict in the Middle East,” ANZ bank said.