Filenews 4 May 2022 - by Eleftheria Paizanos
A new short extension to measures to tackle the fuel price rally is expected to be given by the government. Specifically, the Ministry of Finance is conducting a study to extend for a few more months the reduction of the excise duty on fuel, as well as the reduced VAT on EAC bills.
A few days ago, the government's determination to continue its support to vulnerable groups of the population in the face of increasing inflationary trends was expressed by the Minister of Finance, Konstantinos Petrides. Moreover, yesterday, the Minister of Energy, Natasha Pilidou, in her statements to the Parliament, left open this possibility.
It is recalled that on March 8 to June 1 consumers pay a reduced excise duty on fuel. Specifically, the reduction of consumption taxes on 95 and 98 octane gasoline and diesel is 8.3 cents per litre, and heating oil 5.32 cents.
In relation to the reduction of VAT on electricity, from November 1 2021 until the end of April 250,000 households paid reduced VAT from 19% to 9%. Moreover, from November 1 to the end of June 2022, 34,000 vulnerable consumers will pay 5% vat. In the meantime, the Minister of Energy, in response to a remark that the increases in fuel in Cyprus are made even before the shipments are received with the new high prices, while they do not decrease when international prices fall, said that Cyprus is a small market and imports are made at regular intervals of 2 to 3 weeks, adding that during the inspections no profiteering has been detected by the companies operating in our country.
In 2026 the gas from Venus
The energy minister also said that Cyprus is expected to export natural gas from the Aphrodite block around 2026. She also said that in a letter to the European Commissioner for Energy, she analyzed the important position of Cyprus in the EU's energy issues, as a country in the Eastern Mediterranean with natural gas deposits. Moreover, commenting on the meeting of EU energy ministers last Monday, he said that there was a very positive climate for our country. She stressed that Cyprus' effort is to exploit the Cypriot deposits now that the EU is in need, due to the war in Ukraine. She suggested that there are many options in terms of infrastructure, noting that one is for Cypriot deposits to be interconnected with pipelines to Egypt, either together with Israel or separately.
