June 6 (SeeNews) - Croatia's government said on Monday it cutting further the excise duty and sales margins on motor fuels in a bid to alleviate the impact of the rise in global oil prices on its citizens.
“The government has intervened once again and as long as necessary in these circumstances which are more than unusual, it would use the available mechanisms and intervene in favour of the Croatian citizens and companies,” prime minister Andej Plenkovic said in a statement.
In March, the government reduced the excise duties on petrol by 0.40 kuna ($0.057/0.053 euro) per litre and on Monday it cut it by a further 0.40 kuna.
“The overall cut of excise duties, in the context of the ongoing crisis of rising energy prices, is 0.80 kuna per litre of unleaded petrol,” Plenkovic added.
The same way, the government cut by 0.20 kuna the excise duty on diesel, following a decrease of 0.20 kuna in March.
Croatia levies no excise duties on blue diesel used in agriculture and fisheries.
The government also reduces on Monday by an additional 0.10 kuna the margin of traders for petrol, diesel and blue diesel. It also decided to update fuel prices every two weeks rater than every week as it did so far.
Following these interventions, as of Wednesday the maximum price of petrol will be 13.50 kuna per litre, 13.08 kuna per litre of diesel, and 9.45 kuna per litre of blue diesel.
The government introduced as of April 1 a set of price caps, VAT cuts and subsidies to help households, companies and farmers tackle soaring energy prices - a package worth an estimated 4.8 billion kuna.
(1 euro=7.520 Croatian kuna)