The Chamber for Small and Medium Enterprises - GRTU has added its voice to a chorus stretching from Britain to Bulgaria urging governments to cut duties on fuel, particularly diesel. Diesel in Malta is taxed at €0.34 per litre.

"To make matters worse, over and above this tax, there is an 18 per cent VAT. This simply means that for every litre of diesel, our members put in the tank to enable them to distribute, deliver or transport goods or people, 50 per cent of what they pay goes to the government as tax, and then this burden is blamed on the sheiks," the GRTU said in its newsletter.

GRTU director-general Vince Farrugia, who raised the issue at last week's meeting of the Malta Council for Economic and Social Development, said the government could not continue to raise its revenue every time the sheiks put up the price of oil, as most small business owners simply could not take it anymore.

"It's high time something is done to control inflation... reducing the duty on diesel to mitigate for price increases from overseas is a very good starting point," Mr Farrugia said.