Fuel price reductions ‘peanuts’ says PN as oil falls to $35

The Nationalist Party has denounced a 4c decrease in the price of diesel which it said does not reflect the global fall in the price of oil.

Enemed, the government owned fuel importer, announced fuel price reductions of as much as 4c per litre of diesel at the start of the new year.

But the PN’s shadow ministers Mario de Marco and Marthese Portelli said the price of oil had fallen to as much as $35 a barrel, the lowest price in seven years.

“This fall is the result of various geopolitical factors, amongst them the removal of production limits by OPEC, the removal of Iran sanctions, and better climactic conditions that reduced demand for energy,” the two MPs said.

“This means that the price fell by 75% from its highest ever price, $140… a fall that has given substantial reductions to consumers and business owners across Europe of some 30c over the last 12 months in such countries as Cyprus, Hungary and France.

“The same could not be sad for the Maltese, from whom the government retains the bulk of the fall in price and then passes on a miserly reduction of 3c on petrol and 4c on diesel,” De Marco and Portelli said.

The two MPs said the meagre decrease was affecting families’ spending power and keeping fuel prices in Malta amongst the highest in Europe, chipping away at businesses’ competitiveness.