in-cyprus 2 March 2023 - by Annie Charalambous
House MPs will hold two extraordinary meetings on Thursday to correct a costly mistake that pushed petrol prices up by almost 10 cents per litre after Parliament failed to pass a government extension on the consumption tax freeze.
Consumers are outraged over the higher petrol prices recorded on Wednesday and which will continue till the plenum vote in the extension bill until April after the unnecessary “misunderstanding” between the Parliament and the Finance Ministry.
Philenews also reports that even though the outgoing government approved the extension last week, the House could not approve it since it was not “officially” tabled.
The Ministry – apparently caught up in last month’s presidential elections – only sent the bill to parliament on Tuesday, the last day of February. Even though the bill was approved by the outgoing Cabinet on February 22.
As a result of the delay, the excise tax on petrol has increased by 7 cents per litre, by 8.3 cents on diesel and by 6.4 cents per litre on gasoline, burdening consumers.
However, on Wednesday, House Finance Committee head Christiana Erotokritou announced on CyBC radio that an extraordinary meeting has been called with the Ministry of Finance.
An extraordinary House plenum session will follow on Thursday to vote on the bill.
“We will not allow Cypriot consumers to pay even one cent more for nine or ten days,” Erotokritou said.
