The price of petrol will be reduced by 2c per litre as from January while the price of diesel will be reduced by 1c, Finance Minister Edward Scicluna announced today.

However there will be higher licences on most older cars, and higher excise tax on cigarettes and wine.

He said the government had negotiated a new, favourable hedging agreement for fuels and the benefits will be split, in that the government will raise excise duties on fuels, but the prices at the pump will still go down.

Gas prices have been fixed unchanged up to April. Kerosene will go up by 2c.

He said that excise duties will also be increased on cigarettes and tobacco products, mobile phones, wine and cement. There will be higher duties on insurance policies.

Motorcycles up to 250cc and vintage motorcycles will be exempt from registration tax.

Cigarette prices will go up by 10c per packet. The existing tax on mobile phones will rise by 1%.

The price of wine will rise by 15c per 75cl bottle.

A new 'crane tax' will cost between €10 and €15 per day.

There will be a new tax on feed used by fish farms, which are being considering as polluting agents

HIGHER LICENCES FOR CARS AND SWIMMING POOLS

Prof Scicluna said licences were being revised upwards by 15% for swimming pools.  

In the case of cars, licences on cars that pollute by more than 100g/km of Co2 will
be reviewed (by some €10 annually), while those with Co2 emission rates by not more than 100g/km and registered after 2009 will not be affected.

Budget documents (distributed with the Budget speech) also show that there will be a 'marginal' upward revision in fees of office charged by government departments and a revision of stamp duties on insurance documents. 

More stories on the Budget at http://www.timesofmalta.com/budget