The Minister of Finance, Konstantinos Petridis, announced the reduction of the excise tax on fuel, after the end of the meeting of the Council of Ministers on Thursday.
"The Council of Ministers has decided to reduce the excise tax on fuels to the maximum possible levels allowed by the European acquis, as well as to extend the periods of application of the reduced VAT rates by 5% and 9% on electricity consumption", said Mr. Petridis.
"Specifically, it was decided to reduce the excise tax on gasoline and oil by 7 cents per liter, which reduction increases to 8,3 cents per liter, including VAT. At the same time, the excise tax on heating oil is reduced by 6,4 cents, including VAT. ", continued the Minister of Finance.
In this way, as he said, Cyprus becomes the member state of the European Union with the lowest rates of excise tax and the maximum level allowed by the European acquis.
As the Minister announced, a relevant bill will be submitted to the Parliament today in the form of an urgent vote for immediate voting. The bill was approved today by the Council of Ministers, he added.
Regarding the financial part of these proposals approved by the Council of Ministers, Mr. Petridis stated that this amounts to an additional 40 million euros, adding that there is still 150 million euros in other energy saving programs related to the replacement of devices in vulnerable groups, projects related to upgrading energy efficiency (photovoltaic) for households.
"We have proved as a Government that we are following the developments very closely and as far as possible and we will always adjust our policies in order to help both the society and the economy", concluded the Minister of Finance.
KYPE