Fuel: variable excise duties are back: a 4.9-cent reduction on diesel until 23 November

The standard excise duties on diesel lasted just two days. The Government is once again intervening on the price of diesel by cutting taxes by 4.9 cents per litre (including VAT), just as it did in the last measure in force until last Saturday. This time, as set out in the interministerial decree issued by the Ministry of Economy and Finance (MEF) and the Ministry of Economic Development (MASE) and published in the Official Gazette, the measure will last for two weeks, namely from 10 to 23 November.

This pattern has been repeating itself practically every month since March. The cut at the start of the month is funded by the VAT windfall from the previous month – that is, the additional revenue the State collects precisely because of price rises. The new decree does not utilise all of this: it uses a ‘proportion’, amounting to 43.2 million of the additional revenue collected from 1 to 31 October. The daily cost is therefore just over 3 million.

The suspension has had an impact on prices, albeit a slight one. According to the latest figures from Mimit, at the start of the week diesel began to rise by a few cents as the previous discount came to an end, but from Tuesday it will settle back at around 2.2 euros per litre. Petrol, on the other hand, has remained at around 2 euros for several days.

After all, these figures are very close to the ceilings set by the companies. In fact, the only one to have set a specific price cap was Eni, at 1.99 euros for petrol and 2.25 euros for diesel, and the others have followed suit. During the two days without the discount, the effective price cap on diesel returned to the original figure. With the new reduction, it has fallen back to around €2.20.