Gasoline and diesel prices in our country are around 16-17% lower than those in the EU before taxes. After taxes, the difference is even greater, because taxes in Bulgaria are lower. This was said on bTV by energy expert Martin Vladimirov from the Center for the Study of Democracy, quoted by novini.bg.
According to him, these are extremely high prices for Bulgarian consumers, so the government's support measures are quite good.
According to him, diesel and kerosene are the most sensitive goods. "In our country, this is not such a big problem, because we import diesel from markets where it is offered cheaply - including Russian, smuggled through Turkey. This is not very good for the sanctions that Europe is trying to implement, but for Bulgarian consumers the prices are lower, the expert also said.
According to him, we have not seen a drop in fuel prices - there is only growth.
"Fluctuation is visible in crude oil. There is a big difference between the prices we see on the physical oil market and on the financial exchanges. The price is lower there. But if a refinery currently wants to buy oil somewhere in the world, it will have to pay a premium of between 20-30 dollars above the average price we see on the stock exchange, he specified. And he explained that this is why the price jump at the gas stations is significantly higher. We must emphasize that in Bulgaria the growth is much lower than in other EU countries, he added.
According to him, until tanker traffic through Hormuz is restored, whatever happens between Iran, Israel and the US, things will only get worse, and with geometric progression.