Sky Is The Limit, Price Of Diesel All 166 Per Litre

By Altin Fuga
Tirana, June 16 – The price of diesel D1 in Albania rose for the second time this month by 2 percent to ALL 166 per litre. Last week, the price of diesel D1 was ALL 163 per litre and last month was “just” ALL 160 per litre. The rise in the prices of gasoline and diesel was dictated by the increase of price of crude oil on world markets. In 2003, the price of crude oil was U.S. $18 to $20 per barrel (one barrel is equal to 169 litres). The price rose slowly but steadily as it was pushed by political unrest in major oil producing countries like Iraq, Nigeria, and others. The rhetoric by U.S. President Bush towards Iran added to new worries for oil traders. Second, several developing countries, like China and India, are continuously using more oil. For the moment, crude oil is priced at U.S. $140 per barrel.
Albania imports nearly 80 percent of the diesel it requires. The rest, 20 percent, is produced by ARMO, the Albanian Refinery and Marketing of Oil. For the moment, Albanian law allows the use of two qualities of diesel. Diesel D1 has less that 50 mgr sulphur per litre and diesel D2, which has up to 0.2 percent sulphur. Environmentalists oppose the use of diesel D2 because it pollutes more than diesel D1. However, the Albanian government was forced to continue the use of diesel D2 because ARMO, the state owned refinery, was unable to produce diesel D1. During the first five months of 2008, almost 40 percent of the diesel used by Albanian drivers is D1. This is seen as an improvement, since last year diesel D1 constituted only 30 percent of diesel sold in Albania. After the privatization of ARMO was under way, the Albanian government decided to ban the use of diesel D 1 beginning January 1, 2009.
The government is not going to decrease the excise on gasoline and diesel
The Albanian Ministry of Finances has no plans to decrease the excise duty on gasoline and diesel. The Albanian Minister of Finance, Genc Ruli, made the statement during a recent TV appearance. Ruli defended the decision by pointing out that no country has taken such measures in Europe.
In fact, only last July, the Albanian government decided to increase the excise paid by the importers of diesel, which was increased by ALL 4 per litre. Since the tax authorities had failed to collect the targeted state revenues, the government decided to fill the state budget through another source of income. Days later, the government increased the excise tax on diesel produced in Albania with ALL 10 per litre.
When an Albanian buys a litre of diesel, he is simultaneously paying Euro 0.44 to the state budget in taxes and excise. Although the per capita GDP of Albania is only U.S. $3,000 and Albanians remain the poorest nation in Europe, they pay excise duties on gas and diesel equal to those paid by the Italians, Frenchmen, and other Europeans.