Romanian prime minister Nicolae Ciuca announced on Wednesday that the government, alongside fuel distribution companies, will stop covering 0.5 lei (0.10 euro) of the price of a litre of petrol and diesel at the pump as of January 1, according to See News.
The compensation is being abolished because fuel prices have dropped and are now stable, Ciuca said in a live-streamed statement ahead of this year’s last cabinet meeting.
“Though initially the decision did not seem to be an effective one, we can now see that it was a good measure, as the fuel price reached the same level as before we started to compensate. Therefore, we announce that as of January 1, the measure will no longer be enforced,” Ciuca said, adding that the government is ready to reintroduce the compensation in case of a new price surge.
The government first announced the three-month compensation scheme estimated to cost a total 2 billion lei (404 million euro) in June. Half of the 0.5 lei per litre has been covered by the state, with the other half contributed by fuel distribution companies. In September, the measure was extended by three months until the end of the year.
In June, Euro95 petrol price reached 1.747 euro per litre at the pump in Romania, while the price of diesel was 1.868 euro per litre, according to international freight exchange portal Cargopedia.net. Currently, Euro95 petrol sells at 1.320 euro per litre at the pump in Romania, while the price of diesel is 1.559 euro per litre, according to Cargopedia.net.
The fuel excise duty is set at 1,892 lei for 1,000 litres of unleaded petrol and 1,734 lei for 1,000 litres of diesel, according to finance ministry data.