The reduction in fuel prices will be done through “dynamic excise duty”, announced the Minister of Finance

The Minister of Finance, Alexandru Nazare, announced, in a post on Facebook, that the next stage of the Government's intervention on the price of fuel will be done by changing the excise duties, the minister mentioning “a dynamic excise duty mechanism”.

“At the national level, we are working intensively on the second stage of measures. At the Ministry of Finance, we are at an advanced stage in the drafting of the Emergency Ordinance that will introduce a transparent mechanism for adjusting fuel excises. This dynamic excise mechanism, which will be directly felt in tempering the increase in pump prices, is designed to respond directly to external shocks and to allow for gradual adjustments, depending on the simultaneous increase in prices and quotations international”, Alexandru Nazare conveyed.

The Minister of Finance said that Romania must continue to maintain the “fiscal consolidation trajectory”, with the reduction of the budget deficit, which is why the state must come up with “targeted and temporary measures”.

“The crisis is more complex than in 2022”

Nazare made these statements in the context in which he participated in the meeting of the Eurogroup, of the finance ministers of the euro zone, which had the EU's response to the energy crisis on the agenda.

“The current context is different from 2022, when energy prices have reached record levels, especially as a result of Russia's invasion of Ukraine. The crisis is more complex and fiscal space is limited, which is why different instruments, better calibrated and better coordinated between member states, are needed,” the minister wrote.

Prime Minister Ilie Bolojan said, in an interview for G4Media, on Thursday, that the emergency ordinance adopted by the Government regarding fuel prices is only “a first package”, and next week there will “very likely” be a decrease in the excise tax.

He said that the Government must evaluate, on the one hand, the capacity that the Romanian state can support in reducing the excise tax, including from the perspective of the period of applicability.

“Also, a second principle is related to a fair cost for everyone, meaning that practically everything that the additional state budget collected on the value-added tax component this month, as a result of this increase, will be returned to the citizens of Romania through the reduction in excise taxes that will be made”, added the prime minister.