The Malta Automobile Club welcomes the reduction of three cents in the price of unleaded petrol (€1.35 per litre) and diesel (€1.28 per litre).

As a result of such reductions, there are now 16 EU countries where the price of petrol is less than Malta. These are Austria, Bulgaria, Croatia, Cyprus, Czech Republic, Estonia, Hungary, Ireland, Latvia, Lithuania, Luxembourg, Poland, Romania, Slovakia, Slovenia and Spain.

In the case of diesel, there are 21 EU countries where the price is less than in Malta. These are the above countries together with Belgium, France, Germany, Greece, and Portugal.

It is evident that the reduction of three cents could have taken place from the beginning of February, when the State-owned company Enemed received its first consignment following the tender issued on December 17, 2014. But the government preferred to keep these three cents to itself as an additional profit with the excuse of the so-called stability in fuel prices.

There is no doubt that the majority of Maltese consumers as well as industry would have preferred to enjoy the reduction of the additional three cents from February.

A press release courtesy of the government’s Department of Information shows that it is the government through the Ministry for Energy that is fixing the prices of petrol and diesel in Malta and not the market or the tenders received by Enemed Company Ltd.

When is the government going to allow other players to compete against Enemed on a level playing field, and not from a dominant position in the petroleum market?