The government has frozen the prices of fuels of more daily use for seven consecutive weeks, within the framework of the announcement made by President Luis Abinader that it will be so while the Petroleum intermediate from Texas will remain between 85 and 115 dollars a barrel.
Since the prices of the fuels for the week of March 5 to 11, premium gasoline has been costing 293.60 pesos per gallon and regular 274.50 pesos per gallon as well.
Regular diesel has been selling at 221.60 pesos per gallon, optimal diesel at 241.10 pesos and Liquefied Gas Petroleum (LPG) at 147.60 pesos per cubic meter.
In a speech broadcast on March 7, President Abinader announced a series of measures to contain inflation and not pass on to the consumer the increase in the price of a barrel of Petroleum.
One of them was that the government will subsidize fuels with the parameter that the price of the Petroleum Texas Intermediate (WTI) is above $85 per barrel and below $115. Thus, the internal prices of hydrocarbons will remain unchanged at the level of March 4, 2022.
The Ministry of Industry, Commerce and Mipymes reported yesterday that the international price of WTI averaged 98.69 dollars per barrel, practically the same as last week’s average.
Yesterday, the price of WTI rose 2.6% and reached 106.95 dollars a barrel due to the possibility of a European veto on Russian hydrocarbons.
President Abinader announced that any price movement above 115 dollars per barrel will be transferred to domestic prices, without the inclusion of the ad valorem tax in its calculation.
He estimated that, with the freezing of the price of fuelswhich will have an initial duration of four months, the government would continue to assume a permanent minimum fiscal sacrifice of at least 600 million and 1,000 million pesos per week, which would represent approximately between 2,400 million and 4,000 million pesos per month or between about 9,600 million and 16,000 million pesos during its four months of application.
In 11 months of last year, by the government to maintain total and partial subsidies in the price of fuelsa historical debt was generated with importers for more than 13 billion pesos, reported the government itself.
Only for the week of April 16 to 22, the subsidy will be 820 million pesos, the Ministry of Industry, Commerce and MSMEs reported yesterday.
According to the ministry, with this subsidy the government avoids increases in LPG of more than 11 pesos; in the gallon of premium gasoline of almost 30 pesos and of the regular one of almost 40 pesos. In addition, regular diesel of more than 72 pesos per gallon and optimum of more than 66 pesos.
fuels like avtur and kerosene, which are of less daily use, they have registered an upward variation in their prices.
“We must respond sensibly, responsibly and with the principle of protecting the pockets of all Dominicans,” said Vice Minister Ramón Pérez Fermín in a press release.
