Vucic: We Will Have to Reduce Excise Duties to Avoid a Sharp Increase in Fuel Prices

We have decided that the fuel price increase today will be up to 3 dinars, said Serbian President Aleksandar Vucic. In order to curb inflation and help citizens and the economy, in the next seven days we will prepare measures to achieve this.

The President of Serbia said that fuel prices would realistically have to increase in retail by 15 to 20 dinars, but a decision was made that today’s increase would be a maximum of 3 dinars.

- It is a blatant lie that oil is being exported normally from the Gulf countries, that is, through the Strait of Hormuz. There is a huge shortage of oil, it is already at USD 90 per barrel, and within 48 hours it will reach 100. If those countries agree to stop exporting oil due to the risk, oil will go to USD 130 or 140, which is double what it used to be - Vucic said.

He said that there is a legal limitation that excise duties can be reduced by a maximum of 20% from the total price.

- If, for example, diesel costs RSD 200 dinars, RSD 73 of that is excise duty. According to the law, in order not to undermine our public finances, we can reduce excise duty by a maximum of 20%. So you cannot go beyond that, which would be about RSD 15. We first have to regulate that the government can reduce it, but we must adopt legal amendments because in a world where war and conflicts prevail, we must authorize the government to reduce excise duties, to reduce its revenues, to give up part of its revenues so that people can live normally and so that we can protect people from inflation - Vucic said.

As he added, the three-dinar increase in Serbia will be the smallest price increase anywhere in the world.

Vucic pointed out that projections regarding oil are alarming and that in those alarming projections the state of Serbia will have to find a way to help the population, help the economy and stop inflation. The President also noted that the price of oil is connected with the price of gas.

- Gas fell this morning to 550 and now it has already risen again to 600 at this very moment and it will continue to rise, because oil and gas always move together. Not completely, but to a large extent. So, extremely high gas prices and extremely high oil prices. In the next seven days we are preparing ways for the state to intervene and further protect the population. We will not spend our reserves immediately - Vucic said.

We in Europe will pay the highest price, which is why the state will react strongly, Vucic said, noting that energy sources are a source of conflicts in the world.

Predsedništvo Republike Srbije

President of Serbia

Aleksandar Vucic

excise duties

fuel prices