It is expected that there will be another small increase in fuel prices in the near future, the President of the Cyprus Association of Gas Station Owners, Savvas Prokopiou, told CNA. He also said that it is remote that there will be an issue with the fuel stock in Cyprus, which is sufficient for approximately 90 days.
"Naturally, we will still have a little increase, unless something changes dramatically. I cannot talk about stabilization because we are constantly seeing that the data is changing. The increases that came in the last 20 days were staggered. We see that increases are being imposed every two to three days," Mr. Prokopiou initially said.
"We expect to gradually at least reach the highest levels and go up another 5 to 6 cents, I don't know exactly of course," he added.
As he noted, the issue of fuel prices is being handled by the Consumer Protection Service, together with fuel importing companies.
Regarding the fuel reserves in Cyprus, Mr. Prokopiou said that "logically there is a reserve of approximately 90 days." He emphasized that there has never been a problem with fuel reserves in the past.
"If there is an issue for us, it will be for many countries, it will not be just for Cyprus. I consider the scenario of having an issue with reserves to be remote," noted the President of the Gas Station Owners.
Mr. Prokopiou noted that "the government intervention that is required at this stage is the fuel subsidy, as was successfully done in 2022. That is, with 8,3 cents on fuel and 6,5 cents on heating oil."
Regarding the option of implementing a cap on fuel prices, Mr. Prokopiou believes that it is very difficult to implement in Cyprus.
"Despite the positive thinking of the then Minister Antonis Paschalides, a ceiling was imposed on the retail price only, which did not work and did not last even 24 hours. You understand that we gas station owners are operating within the limits of sustainability issues," he said.
He expressed the view that for the ceiling to be successful, "it should start from the base, that is, from the wholesale price," if importing companies are able to operate at lower profit levels, even for a short period of time.
He also said that the state makes some profit from fuel price increases. "When the price increases, then VAT revenues increase. So the state should come in and partially subsidize fuel," Mr. Prokopiou said.
Citing a relevant example, he said that if the price increases by 50 cents, then the state has around 8,5 to 9 cents more revenue from the VAT increase.
Regarding the treatment of profiteering, Mr. Prokopiou clarified that these are issues that are handled by the Consumer Protection Service.
"We, as gas station owners, have never observed any issues of profiteering from fellow gas station owners. If there was any moment of profiteering, it was something momentary."
"I believe that especially now, due to the increased prices, gas station owners are more aware and prices are where they should be," he added.
He clarified that each gas station operator proceeds with the implementation of its policy regarding fuel prices, based on the wholesale price. "In a period of 13 days, six increases were imposed on gas station operators by fuel importing companies," he emphasized.
"I believe that now, with the increased prices, the Director of the Consumer Protection Service, Konstantinos Karagiorgis, will definitely carry out more and more thorough inspections. I am sure of that," he commented.
The President of the Cyprus Association of Gas Station Owners said that everyone expects the war to stop so that the situation with fuel and more can normalize.
"If this situation continues and prices go even higher, then we will see price increases in many products, the prices of which will not fall. There will be profiteering there and not for us," he said meaningfully.
"At some point the price (of fuel) will go back down again, along with the prices of raw materials such as iron and paper. At some point their prices will return, but for some products the prices will remain high forever," warned Mr. Prokopiou, concluding.
Source: KYPE
