Ouch, It Hurts.
Gasoline Prices Hit
Record High
For those who didn't
endure the long lines at
the gasoline station
last night, it will cost
them today much more to
fill the gasoline tank,
as gasoline prices
jumped ¢60 colones a
litre and diesel ¢88.
The increase means an
additional ¢2.700
colones to fill a 45
litre tank with gasoline
and ¢3.960 with diesel,
that is over us$5 and
us$7 a fill, at today's
exchange rate.
Diesel fuel, for the
first time, now costs
more than regular
gasoline, hitting a
record high of ¢710
colones per litre
(us$5.23 for a US
gallon), while regular
jumped to ¢704 (us$5.18)
and super to ¢716
(us$5.28).
The new prices went into
effect at the stroke of
12:01am Tuesday.
At 10pm last night lines
formed at most gasoline
stations that were still
open and had gasoline to
dispense. The station in
Pavas, diagonal to the
US Embassy for instance,
had more than half its
60 plus pumps closed by
9pm.
However, the rise in
fuel prices doesn't end
there. More increases
are on the way.
Last Friday, the state
refinery, Refinadora
Costarricense de
Petróleo (Recope), make
a request for an
increase of ¢17 colones
for a litre of regular,
¢15 colones for super
and ¢16 colones for
diesel to the Autoridad
Reguladora de los
Servicios Públicos (Aresep),
which is expected to
approve the request that
will go into effect in
August.
One item that was not
detailed in last
Friday's request is the
Recope proposal to
increase fuel prices ¢24
colones per litre across
the board, spread over
six months (August to
January 2009), which
would allow the state
refinery to recover ¢23
billion colones in
losses accumulating
since last year.
The proposal pretends
that once the loss is
made up, in January
2009, fuel prices will
drop by an equal amount.
If and when the Aresep
approves the Recope
request, gasolines
prices at the pumps will
be ¢755 for a litre of
super, ¢744 for regular
and ¢750 for diesel.
And lets not forget the
government's proposal
before the legislature
to increase the tax on
gasoline prices to
provide ¢10 billion
colones to Recope to
subsidize the cost of
diesel fuel.
If the proposal, which
has been met by
resistance by
legislators, is approved
gasoline prices could
pass the ¢800 colones
per litre mark, while
diesel fuel will be
expected to go below
¢700.
According to Recope, the
financial whole of the
past year has been to
the constant rise in the
price of crude oil on
international markets,
especially the increases
of the last several
months and slow process
of increasing the price
of fuel at the pumps at
home. |
