Minister
eases gas subsidy fears
Port Spain
Petroleumworldtt.com
01 27 08
There
are no plans being considered by the Prime Minister
Patrick Manning administration to completely
remove the $2 billion annual subsidy on gasoline
and diesel,
says Minister in the Finance Ministry Mariano Browne.
He said the Finance Ministry is now conducting
a preliminary examination of a reduction of the
subsidy in light of record high global oil prices,
and the expenditure demands that the Government
now faces.
"What has happened, the level of the subsidy
has continued to escalate and we may have to consider
reducing the size of the subsidy, not wiping it
away entirely, but certainly reducing it," Browne
said yesterday.
"It's
early stages, early stages. You know, no decision
has been made in that regard, but it
is something that has to be looked at. It's on
the table."
Browne was responding to an exclusive article
in Monday's Express, in which Energy Minister Conrad
Enill revealed the Finance Ministry was in the
early stages of reconsidering the subsidy.
Any reduction in the subsidy would most likely
result in an increase in the price of gasoline
and diesel at the pump, a move that could have
widespread implications throughout the entire economy.
(See Page 10)
Enill had said motorists are currently paying
for the increased fuel prices whether they realise
it or not, since their out-of-pocket expenses are
being kept low by the taxes they pay that go into
the subsidy.
Economist Dr Eric St Cry told the Express earlier
this week that although any reduction in the $2
billion annual gasoline and diesel subsidy could
lead to higher inflation, it could longer be avoided.
Motorists
now pay $3 per litre for gasoline and $1.50 per
litre for diesel and Browne said that
while any reduction in the fuel subsidy will have "an
implication from a fiscal point of view",
it is a measure that must be considered.
Story
by Juhel Browne from Trinidad Express
- jbrowne@trinidadexpress.com
Trinidad
Express
Wednesday,
January 23rd 2008
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