The price of fuel at the pump in the first 10 months has been “significantly cheaper” than in many EU countries, the government said yesterday.

In a short statement that included two comparative tables showing the price of petrol and diesel in the UK and Italy, the government insisted its policy to hedge long term still delivered fuel at below EU average prices.

Although the statement made no mention of the report, it was a reaction to a story carried in The Sunday Times of Malta that showed how hedging had backfired since August when international fuel prices started to drop.

Hedging had backfired

But while the story compared the raw price of fuel across the EU without including taxes, which varied widely across member states, the government statement referred to the price consumers pay at the pump.

In November, the non-tax portion of the fuel cost paid by motorists in Malta was the highest in the EU.

While it is true that the final price paid at the pump may have been consistently below the EU average, it is also true that the stability programme in this case backfired since pump prices could have been much lower given that the raw price of fuel dropped.