Government not taking advantage of low cost of oil
The government was not taking advantage of the current oil prices which were at their lowest levels since 2004, the Opposition spokesman for the economy, Gavin Gulia, said.
He said in a statement although the price of oil had gone down to less than $40 a barrel even through Opec had declared that it was reducing production by less than two million barrels a day, the government was ignoring the justified requests to revise the rates.
Dr Gulia noted that while exports were dropping at an alarming rate, the government was increasing industry’s expenses making it less competitive at a difficult time.
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M. Catania
Dec 20th 2008, 06:01
Rates cannot go up and down every day Gavin. You should know that when you were a minister in the 1996 legislature how hard it was to convince Alfred Sant to revise the rates. Besides that, according to my knowledge hedging is not allowed for six months at a time.
Denis Catania
Dec 19th 2008, 18:07
One must ask, WHY?? Is the government in financial trouble?? How much exposure if an did Maltese banks have with MADOFF.
Joseph Vassallo
Dec 19th 2008, 13:28
The big question is "Should I be paying for the stock at the price it was purchased for($150 a barrel), or at the price it will cost to restock it ($40)?" It makes all the difference.
I believe the high prices should not last longer (than the high purchase price did) because of forward buying, since the cost of repurchasing the stock will be at today's rates ($40).