PM defends increase in price of gasoline

Prime Minister Gaston Browne is justifying the recent increase in gas prices as of March 22.

The price of only gasoline attracted a 7% increase, moving from $13.99 per gallon to $14.40, while the cost of other fuel remains unchanged.

Browne addressed the issue in Parliament on Tuesday in response to a question posed by Leader of the Opposition Jamale Pringle.

He said that now that things have normalized and the economy is doing well, the government believes they can allow the pass-through mechanism to continue as they did in the past, and at the same time, they are determined to keep the price lower than the regional average.

In a release issued last week, the Ministry of Finance noted that the changes were a result from the refined pass-through mechanism for fuel prices, which takes into account revenue assurance, price stability, and maintenance of subsidies for certain petroleum products.

There was also  a 2% reduction in diesel prices announced by West Indies Oil Company Limited.  Those savings were not passed on to the public.

Pringle also asked the prime minister why the motoring public is not paying less.

“It should be a dollar more expensive but there is already a subsidy mechanism in which we are subsidizing not to the full extent, but at least we are keeping the prices below regional average. I should add that within the last three months there has been constant increases and the cabinet took a decision not to increase the prices, so we continue to subsidies,” Browne said.