English
Citizens will see savings of 200,000 EUR a day after the Government reduced the value added tax for gas from 18 to 10 percent. Prime Minister Hristijan Mickoski said that the Government is planning several additional measures, and urged the citizens and businesses to be calm in the face of the global oil shock.
Mickoski added that even with the three rounds of gas price increases (that are partially offset by the VAT tax reduction), Macedonia still has by far the lowest gas prices in the region. The latest round of increases saw diesel go up by 3.5 denars per liter, and the gas prices remain the same – due to the reduction in the VAT rate.
There are challenges but the electric power situation is exceptionally stable as is the supply with oil and its derivatives. At the moment the domestic needs are met. As a country we have the lowest Government taxes on gas and fuel. We examined the possibility of reducing the import taxes but we determined that the price would go down only by 1 or two denars. So that is why we opted for a more robust intervention that will reduce the prices by 6.5-7 denars per liter, said Mickoski.
The Government yesterday also declared a state of crisis in the fuel supply, that will allow it to act faster. Energy Minister Sanja Bozinovska will also hold another round of talks with the OKTA supplier to see if they can help bring the prices down even lower.