PETROL PRICES are set to drop by 1 or 2 cents per litre just after the new year, according to an announcement by Finance Ministry officials yesterday.
Ministry representative Michael Stavrou told the Finance Committee that: “We are seriously considering a reduction of fuel prices by January 2, 2001.”
Petrol pump prices are reset every six months based on oil’s international trading price.
Current prices have oil in the $26 (£17) per barrel range and adjustments are expected after the market was flooded following a shortage scare in autumn.
The House Committee welcomed the government’s plan to decrease fuel prices and is expected to vote in favour of the bill.
The Finance ministry is also planning to increase subsidises offered to petrol importers to help them cover the losses they suffered earlier this year during the shortage scare that saw fuel prices soar to $35 per barrel.
“Importers are expected to receive a total of £4 million to cover losses they suffered in October and November. The government’s annual budget for subsidising fuel importers is coming up to £33 million,” Kyprianou said.
Rising international oil prices and the weakness of the Cyprus pound dramatically raised the cost of importing petrol last summer.
The course of events put the government in a tight spot, with the House of Representatives refusing to approve petrol pump price rises and oil importing companies threatening not to bring in any more crude unless their income was boosted in some way. The government in return was reluctant to continue subsidising oil imports to the tune of £5 million a month.
The Cyprus Mail is the only English-language daily newspaper published in Cyprus. It was established in 1945 and today, with its popular and widely-read website, the Cyprus Mail is among the most trusted news sites in Cyprus. The newspaper is not affiliated with any political parties and has always striven to maintain its independence. Over the past 70-plus years, the Cyprus Mail, with a small dedicated team, has covered momentous events in Cyprus’ modern history, chronicling the last gasps of British colonial rule, Cyprus’ truncated independence, the coup and Turkish invasion, and the decades of negotiations to stitch the divided island back together, plus a myriad of scandals, murders, and human interests stories that capture the island and its -people. Observers describe it as politically conservative.
