By Carlena Knight
An assessment of current fuel prices is on the cards for next week’s Cabinet meeting, as another thirty-day window has been completed.
Whether or not prices will drop or increase is still up in the air according to Information Minister Melford Nicholas, despite Prime Minister Gaston Browne’s recent comments that Cabinet may pass-on further increases in fuel prices when the next oil shipment arrives.
PM Browne, who is also the finance minister, had explained that it may be the option to pass-on the price to the consumer, but Nicholas during this week’s post Cabinet press briefing explained that the matter will be discussed, and a decision made at next week’s sitting.
“I imagine that by next week, we would have to. As I have indicated before, it takes thirty days, we have a thirty-day supply, so we have a buffer, and storage facilities that allow us to be able to receive the shipment, and within that thirty-day cycle it’s likely that the supply cost would change and we would have to make a determination as to whether or not the government can iron-out as we would have done the last two cycles.
“Well, in the first instance, we would have passed on the cost, and in the second instance, we would have passed on the savings. What the next shipment will bring with it, is a matter that we will have to consider next week,” Nicholas explained.
On March 15, the price of diesel and gas at the pumps increased to $15.50 and $15.70 per gallon respectively.
That increase to consumers was due to the increase in the cost of petrol on the world market which was brought on by the ongoing war between Russia and Ukraine.
The increase was met with a lot of annoyance, with some residents even taking to the streets to protest, calling for an immediate change in government due to the high cost of living.
Weeks later on April 22, those prices were slightly reduced by 27 and 55 cents per gallon.