| Media headlines 11/03/2011 |
| (2011-03-11) |
| Last updated: 2011-03-11 16:35 EET |
The historically high prices for fuel in Romania, ranging between 1.25 and 1.5 euros a litre, have kindled public debate over ways to keep the rise in check. Reducing fuel taxes, at least for a limited period, is the only way to reduce fuel costs, according to the daily Adevarul, citing experts in the oil industry.
No one can control the oil quota which has skyrocketed against the backdrop of political unrest in the Arab world, but the government in Bucharest can reduce the excise, even though this may diminish budget income, according to an expert. He warns that, if authorities fail to do this, prices will rise throughout the entire economic system and this will only eventually lead to a drop in budget incomes.
Another analyst, quoted by Adevarul, says, however that the excise reduction would run against the budget consolidation process and would be a sort of interventionism of the executive into the market. On the other hand, the government claims that Romania has decided on a calendar to meet the minimum level of excises in the EU by 2013.
A drop in this tax now would entail an eventual, more important increase. However, the executive could lower the gas price, if it wanted to, another analyst writes in Jurnalul National, by removing VAT from the excise, which, he believes, translates as a double taxation.
Daily Romania Libera headlines ‘’A new oil shock shatters the world’’, adding that the gas price in station has reached a record high in Romania as well as throughout Europe, although crude oil has yet to reach the 2008 peak. Irrespective of the result of protests and uprisings across the Middle East and Northern Africa, one thing is for certain – the oil world will be transformed for good, the newspaper writes, citing opinions of foreign economists.
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2025-04-03
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