European Commission statistics confirmed that the price of fuel in Malta was cheaper than the European average, the Labour Party said today.

Petrol cost 13c less than the European average and some seven European countries were paying more for petrol than Malta.

The party was referring to a statement yesterday by shadow minister Marthese Portelli in which she said that the cost of fuel in Malta did not reflect the drop in the price of oil.

The Labour Party said that if the Opposition followed the European Commission’s statistics it would see that the price of diesel was highest in the UK, where it was 38c more expensive than in Malta.

The PL said Maltese families and businesses knew that in the first part of this legislature the price of petrol had already gone down eight times and that of diesel seven times.

It said it was the last Nationalist administration which had increased the price of fuel by 36 per cent and that of electricity by 71 per cent when the international price of oil had only gone up by four per cent.

These two decisions had cost the average family in Malta €1,500 more each year.