The government of Paraguay announced Wednesday that the national oil company will reduce the price of the most used diesel and gasoline in the country, during the celebration of the third day of protests and blockades of roads due to the increase in fuel.
He also said he would submit to Congress, with a request for “emergency treatment,” a proposal to create a fuel price stabilization fund, which would finance a subsidy to be applied to imports.
The decisions were announced when intermittent blockades maintained by hundreds of protesters in different parts of the country slowed vehicle traffic on major highways, especially those connecting Asunción to border points with Brazil and Argentina.
Specifically, said the Minister of Industry and Trade, Luis Alberto Castiglioni, the public company Petroleos Paraguayos (Petropar) will reduce 500 Guaraníes (0.072 cents) at the price per liter of type III diesel and 93-octane gasoline.
These fuels “are the ones that are most used by the labor sectors, producers, people who work in services, in commerce”, added the title during a press conference at the presidential residence (Mburuvichá Róga, the home of the leader in Guaraní).
The measure began to come into force from zero hours this Thursday and will be in effect for 30 days.
However, it does not cover private distributors, who are free to set the price of fuel.
Minutes before the press conference, Paraguayan President Mario Abdo Benitez announced on his Twitter account that he signed the bill that day creating the Fuel Price Stabilization Fund.
“This measure will be presented immediately to the National Congress, with a request for urgent treatment,” said the governor, who returned Wednesday from São Paulo (Brazil), where he moved on Monday “for family reasons of force majeure.”
At the proposal of the executive, Castiglioni assured that the fund seeks to give “predictability” to the current situation with fuels, which he considered “completely foreign” to the reality of Paraguay and attributed to the conflict between Russia and Ukraine.
According to the manager, the fund will be a “permanent tool with temporary application”, since it will operate when “the situation requires it”, that is, in the event of upward fluctuations in fuels.
Once the law creating the fund was passed, Castiglioni anticipated that a reduction of 500 guaraníes per liter would be applied to Type III diesel and 93-octane gasoline.
The reduction will be “general”, stressed the minister, adding that this benefit will also cover fuels marketed by private companies.
The fund will have a capital of $100 million from a loan from CAF - Development Bank of Latin America.
The mechanism will rely on the selective consumption tax, which taxes products that are not considered essential, such as alcoholic beverages or weapons, as well as those that pollute the environment, such as fuels.
(With information from EFE)
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