Diesel: end of the excise duty cut – the Official Gazette makes no mention of an extension to the discount

We’re back to standard excise duties. Again. In the Official Gazette of Saturday 7 November – the last day of the discount on the price of diesel – there is no extension of the reduction. Consequently, price rises – albeit slight – are expected from Sunday onwards.

Let’s take things in order and start with prices, which help us to understand the latest developments. According to the latest figures from the Ministry of Enterprise, the average price of diesel in Italia is 2.24 euros per litre, whilst the price of petrol has returned to two euros per litre after weeks of record highs.

These figures are high by Italian motorists’ standards, but are nonetheless significantly lower than the record levels seen a few weeks ago. The Government weighed up right until the last minute whether to extend the price cut once again through the ‘flexible excise duty’ mechanism – Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni had been keen to emphasise, right up until Friday, that the government was working ‘day and night’ on this issue – but ultimately decided to revert to standard tax rates.

Which, in other words, amounts to daily savings of around 3.5 million euros. And, on top of that, it means having access to the windfall from October’s VAT surplus, as well as that from September, which was only partially utilised.

As mentioned, however, the price of diesel will rise from Sunday. The reduction in force until 7 November is not particularly substantial: it amounts to just under 4.9 cents per litre (including VAT). The increase, therefore, will be just a few cents – and will apply only to diesel.