Ouch! Another Gasoline Price Increase Approved
It's official. Costa Rican will need to hand over an average of 11.28% or ¢36.50 colonesfor a litre of gasoline with the approval by the Autoridad Reguladora de los Servicios Públicos (Aresep), the authority on public prices and services.

The increase will mean an additional ¢39 colones to a litre of super bringing the price to ¢420 colones (us$0.89) from the current ¢381 (us$0.81). Regular jumps from the current ¢364 (us$0.77) to ¢402 (us$0.85) and diesel form ¢273 (us$0.58) to ¢303 (us$0.64).

According to the Aresep, the increase is based on an automatic formula that is based on the world price for a barrel of crude oil, taking into account the increase experienced between March 23 and April 6 of this year.

Officials at the Aresep say they are aware of the negative impact the price increase will have on the economy and the daily lives of Costa Ricans, but it cannot suspend the modification of prices due to rising world prices for crude.

This is the third increase this year. The first was on February 1 when a 5% increase was made and the on March 24 with a 3.1% increase.

The increase approved yesterday does not take into account a 2.9% increase that goes into effect on May 1. That increase is based on an increase on taxes in the cost of gasoline products, which will add another ¢3.75 colones for each litre of super, ¢3.5 for regular and ¢2 on diesel.

The government announced in the past weeks savings measures to combat the high cost of gasoline. One of the measures is to limit the number of cars on certain downtown streets during peak morning and afternoon hours and alter the working hours of public employees. Either measure is yet to be put into practice.

The increase needs to be published in the official daily newspaper La Gaceta before it can be raised at the pumps. The publication is expected next week.