The Minister of Industry, Energy and Mining, Omar Paganiniaffirmed this Friday that the price of gasoline should rise 5% in March and that of diesel 8%but that the government is looking for a way to “mitigate a little” the adjustment, according to what he told Telemundo.
The chief met at noon with President Luis Lacalle Pou and the Minister of Economy and Finance, Azucena Arbeleche, to discuss this issue. The Executive Power will communicate on Monday what percentage of increase the rates will have to the publicor, in an international scenario that plays against the appreciation of oil as a result of the Russian invasion in Ukraine.
“The Ursea report was published today. In one month the (barrel of) oil rose from US$84 to US$95. Today it is already much higher. We came to tell the president and we are working to see the efforts that can be made to mitigate this a little, “said Paganini.
The Regulatory Unit for Energy and Water Services (Ursea) published this Friday the report on Import Parity Price (PPI) which corresponds to the last moving month between January 26 and February 23.
This is one of the inputs –along with the Ancap numbers– that the Executive Branch takes into account since June 2021 to define the fuel rates on a monthly basis.
What do the numbers show? The PPI ex-plant of the La Teja refinery for Super 95 naphtha –including taxes and blending with bioethanol– determined a price of $66.77, that is, 5% above the $63.6 of January. To the ex-plant price, we must add the transportation costs and the bonuses of the stationers.
In the case of common diesel, the ex-plant price shown by the Ursea PPI –including taxes and the mixture with biodiesel – is $47.61, 6.7% above the $44.63 of the previous month.
On the other hand, in the case of supergas (LPG), the ex-plant PPI determines a price of $36.93 per liter (equivalent to $67.15 per kg), just $0.77 above the value shown by the previous month’s report ($36.16).
Source: Ursea
The definition will also contain a “political factor” (greater than other months) given that on March 27 the referendum will be held to repeal 137 articles of the LUC, among which are those referring to the new scheme approved by the government to review fuel prices on a monthly basis.
In February, the government had chosen to adjust the rates of diesel and gasoline to correct the lag that had occurred in the months of October to January due to the freezing of prices, which moved the rates away from the theoretical import price (PPI) .
Thus, diesel increased 6%, to $52.94, and Super 95 gasoline 4.3%, to $73.41, to “partially” transfer to the public the spike that crude oil had shown in international markets.
