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Experts are expecting significant price increases in the fuel market in the second half of 2023. If global market trends develop as expected, Hungarian motorists may have to accept prices above HUF 800 (EUR 2) per liter for both petrol and diesel, reports Index.
For the time being, however, prices at petrol stations in Hungary are more affordable, although they will rise again this week. According to Holtankoljak.net, a refuel website, both petrol and diesel prices will rise by 10 forints gross on Wednesday. As a result, the average price of 95 octane petrol will be 632 forints (EUR 1.57) per liter, and diesel 691 forints (EUR 1.72). However, it is still true that these are only average prices and that there can be large variations between individual stations.
According to Tamás Pletser, oil and gas analyst at Erste Bank, we should expect the price of fuel to rise by orders of magnitude in Hungary in the medium term. One reason for this is that there are still risks on the commodity side to be reckoned with.
In the meantime, negative petrol tourism has recently emerged, i.e. it is no longer the citizens of neighboring countries who are coming to Hungary to fill up because of the cheaper prices, but the opposite: Hungarian motorists are filling up abroad.
Hungary Today has already written about the fact that Hungary has one of the highest petrol and diesel prices in the region, which is partly due to the doubling of domestic retail and wholesale margins. Ottó Grád, secretary general of the Hungarian Petroleum Association, explained the higher price by the fact that Hungary has a 27 percent VAT rate.
Now, more and more Hungarians living near the border are filling up abroad because they can get cheaper fuel in neighboring countries than at home. In Slovakia, 95 octane petrol is around 50 forints cheaper and diesel 60 forints cheaper. In Romania, fuel is even cheaper, with a liter of petrol costing 100 forints less than in Hungary and a liter of diesel up to 110 forints less.
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