in-cyprus 2 June 2020 -Josephine Koumettou
The government lost a total of €23,607,684 in fuel taxes in April as a result of shutdown measures to stem the spread of Coronavirus according to the Consumer Association’s price observatory, Phileleftheros reports.
According to the same, gas station owners have reported €2,116,573 in losses from a drop in sales of Unleaded 95 and diesel fuel.
Compared to April 2019, there was a 70.3% drop in Unleaded 95 consumption in April 2020 and a 53% drop for Diesel.
The observatory reported in an announcement that during the month of May the price of diesel has dropped by 5.3 cents per litre, Unleaded 95 by 3.1 cents per litre and heating oil by 4 cents per litre.
Cyprus was cheaper as regards the average sale price for petrol and diesel and more expensive than average in the price of heating oil.
Among the observatory’s key findings is that in May 2020 the average retail price for Unleaded 95 petrol in the EU including taxes was 1.179 cents per litre compared to 0.989 cents in Cyprus.
The observatory found that, in addition to Cyprus’ retail price being cheaper than the EU average on the above products, the tax in Cyprus on Unleaded 95 and Diesel is lower than the average tax for the same products in the EU. The price of these products in the EU in May without taxes was 0.366 per litre for Unleaded 95 compared to 0.448 in Cyprus, and 0.409 for Diesel in the EU compared to 0.420 in Cyprus.
The average price of heating oil in the EU was cheaper, however, at 0.562 cents compared to 0.643 cents in Cyprus, but the observatory noted that this is not due to higher taxation on this product but rather on pricing and the frequency of heating oil imports to Cyprus.
