The government will discuss possible measures on Wednesday.Continue reading
Following the government’s indication on Friday that it may soon reintroduce fuel price caps, wholesalers are showing leniency, writes Világgazdaság. If not total, then significant price cuts are coming to Hungarian petrol stations, based on a report from Holtankoljak.hu.
According to the fuel price monitoring blog, the wholesale price of diesel will fall significantly from Wednesday this week, by HUF 8 (EUR 1 = HUF 395) gross.
This is expected to be reflected at retail level, in the pricing of petrol stations. This is good news for the vehicle owners concerned, except that the price of petrol will not be affected; it will not change. The average prices from April 24 2024 will therefore be as follows:
At present, the prices are HUF 650 and HUF 647 respectively. This will remain the case until midnight on Tuesday, after which the new fuel prices will come into force. It is important to stress that these are average prices, from which actual retail prices may typically deviate downwards. However, fuel is roughly HUF 50 more expensive per liter on motorways. So far this year, at wholesale level
the price of petrol has increased by HUF 111 per liter and the price of diesel by HUF 65,
although HUF 41 of this is due to the mandatory increase in excise duty in January. Excluding this, there is an increase of HUF 70 and HUF 25 for petrol and diesel respectively.
Márton Nagy, Minister for National Economy, announced last Friday that the government will examine on Wednesday whether it should intervene since domestic fuel prices are HUF 20-30 higher than the EU average. As Hungary Today wrote earlier, the Central Statistical Office published a regional comparison of fuel prices on Friday morning. The government previously made the decision to intervene in the fuel market dependent on this.
Nagy did not rule out the possibility of a new official price, but pointed out that there are many other methods of intervention the government could use, including at the expense of wholesale and retail margins. The exact amount of the latter is being carefully kept secret. What is known, however, is that excise duty in Hungary currently stands at HUF 152.5 per liter on petrol and HUF 142.9 on diesel. This is below the typical EU level. However, the VAT (Value Added Tax) rate is 27%, which is already higher.
In addition to taxes, the producer price accounts for over a third of the price of fuel. There is no word as far as Világgazdaság is concerned that the government is considering changing the tax structure on fuel, but Finance Minister Mihály Varga emphasized at the government briefing that
the fact that fuel is more expensive in Hungary than in the region is not due to the tax burden.
In addition, in a Facebook post, the minister published a table on the tax burden on 95-liter petrol in EU Member States, based on data from the European Commission.
According to the table, the tax burden on 95-liter petrol in Hungary is 46%, compared to 52% in Austria, 55% in Germany, and 49% in both Slovakia and the Czech Republic. The highest tax burden on petrol is found in Finland, Greece, Ireland, Malta, and Italy, with 56% in each of the five countries. Romania and Bulgaria are at the bottom with 43%, and Cyprus with 44%.
Via Világgazdaság, MTI; Featured image via Facebook/OMV Filling Stations