Treasury extends fiscal stimulus to gasoline until April to contain inflation

Additionally, the Treasury decided to grant additional incentives in VAT and VAT applicable for each liter of fuel

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The Ministry of Finance and Public Credit (SHCP) reported this Friday that it maintains at 100% the fiscal stimulus on gasoline and diesel, with this measure citizens are exempt from paying the special tax of almost six pesos applied per liter of fuel, at least until Friday, April 1.

The Treasury details that the reduced rates of the Special Tax on Production and Services (Ieps) are 5,4917 pesos per liter for magna type gasoline, 4,6375 pesos for Premium and 6,0354 pesos for diesel.

In addition, the Treasury will grant additional stimuli applicable per liter: 2,4443 pesos for low-octane gasoline, 1,6692 pesos for premium types and 4,0742 pesos for diesel.

This complementary stimulus is applied through VAT refunds and the decrease in ISR, which means lower tax revenues, however, finance authorities consider that the surplus from Mexican oil exports makes it possible to remedy these losses for the Mexican government.

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An employee is seen after filling a truck with diesel fuel at a gas station in Mexico City. (PHOTO: REUTERS/Henry Romero)

Finance Secretary Rogelio Ramírez de la O noted that the cost of these fiscal stimuli is being absorbed by the federal government as a measure to prevent the international increase in fuels from impacting the economy of Mexican families.

In an interview with the newspaper El Economista, Ramírez de la O, said that the scenario generated between Russia and Ukraine has substantially raised the international price of oil and therefore of its derivatives, which explains the rapid increase in gasoline prices.

Within the framework of the Banking Convention held in Acapulco, the head of the Treasury explained that the federal government is considering applying this stimulus during the rest of 2022, and argued that the surplus from oil exports can be used to stabilize fuel prices in the domestic market.

Ramírez de la O indicated that letting go of this increase in the price of gasoline and diesel would have a regressive impact on the purchasing power of households and would be greater anxiety, since domestic consumption represents 67% of gross domestic product.

This Thursday, March 24, the National Institute of Statistics and Geography (Inegi) reported that inflation in the first half of March increased slightly by 0.48% compared to the previous fortnight and highlighted that fuel prices increased slightly.

Treasury officials considered that if it were not for the fiscal stimulus applied to fossil fuels, inflation, which currently stands at 7.29%, could have risen by about two points more.

For Ramírez de la O, the application of complementary fiscal stimuli is not a capricious measure by the government, but a necessity to prevent the increase in fuels worldwide from going directly into the pocket of Mexicans and he insisted that foreign sales of Mexican crude oil give room for maneuver to public finances.

On March 18, Octavio Romero, general director of Petroleos Mexicanos, declared that our country currently produces 1,800,000 barrels of crude oil per day and stressed that the percentage of exports is gradually reduced as national demand for refining is met due to the rehabilitation of national refineries.

On the same day, President Andrés Manuel López Obrador highlighted that Mexico is moving towards energy self-sufficiency and that the entry into operations of the Dos Bocas refinery would allow Mexico to stop exporting oil from 2023 to focus on national fuel production.

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