Minister of Finance Winston Jordan yesterday announced that effective today fuel prices at the state-owned GUYOIL will be reduced.
In a brief statement to the National Assembly ahead of the continuation of the 2015 budget debate, he said that the retail price for gasoline will drop to $168 per litre from $174 while diesel will be retailed at $199 per litre down from $210. The decrease in the gasoline price stands at $6 or just above 3% while for diesel there is an $11 or just over 5% decrease.
Reductions in GUYOIL’s prices usually lead to a drop in prices by other fuel companies.
Jordan’s announcement was met with cheers and banging of desks by his fellow government Members of Parliament.
He told the National Assembly that government will continue to look for ways to help the poor and “lower earning” people and it was towards this end that the fuel prices were decreased.
“It is hoped sir that these decreases trending in the right direction will be passed on to the consumers especially in light of the impending opening of school where schoolchildren in particular will have to be using public (transport)”, he said.
Since the start of the year and more recently there have been decreases in oil prices on the international market. Many,
particularly hire car drivers and mini -bus operators have been asking when this benefit would trickle down to them.
This is the second time that GUYOIL has slashed its prices for the year.
Back in January then Minister of Finance Dr. Ashni Singh had announced a 30% reduction in fuel prices.
Days later, privately-owned gas stations made further reductions on their price of fuel.
It has always been expected that with a reduction in fuel prices, the benefit would trickle down to persons using public transportation and taxis but this has never happened. Mini-bus and hire-car operators have long argued that even though they benefit from the reduction at the pumps, they are still faced with the high cost of spare parts as well as vehicle maintenance.
Since the January reduction, prices have remained steady.
