End of the excise duty discount: petrol and diesel set for a price rise from Saturday
With the end of the tax cut, fuel prices are set to rise, whilst the Government aims to stabilise the market following months of extraordinary measures
by Lorenzo Pace
Last day of discounts at petrol stations. With the start of the first weekend in July, another round of fuel duty cuts comes to an end. And so, as no extensions are planned, the price of petrol and diesel will rise slightly again.
The latest excise duty reduction
Anyone who has now worked out how it works will also be prepared for the next increase. For almost a month now, the tax cut has stood at 6.1 cents per litre, a quarter of the initial cut (-24.4 cents) introduced in mid-March.
At that time, however, the price of Brent (the main global oil benchmark) was close to 120 dollars a barrel. Even with a very substantial discount (it cost around 400 million every twenty days), prices at the petrol stations were still over two euros a litre. These figures are very different from today’s.
The situation today
In fact, petrol currently costs around 1.8 euros per litre, whilst diesel costs 1.88 euros. Prices have been falling for weeks, although the decline is proceeding slowly.
It is for this reason that Adolfo Urso, the Minister for Enterprise, summoned representatives of the oil companies to the Mimit a few days ago, asking them to adapt more quickly to the market. Brent crude is currently trading at around 70 dollars a barrel.
