Cabinet decides to maintain fuel price at $15.70 per gallon for gasoline and $15.50 per gallon for diesel

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CABINET NOTES:

As promised, the Cabinet held discussions on the price of fuel at the pumps in Antigua and Barbuda.

It was noted that the price of oil on the world market has been trending upwards for several weeks, with the price per barrel surpassing US$120.00. The continued war in Ukraine is having a negative impact on global supply and this has the effect of driving up the per barrel cost.

Moreover, while other countries in the region have incrementally risen their price at the pumps for several years, the price in Antigua and Barbuda remained the same to ensure there is stability and predictability in the cost of fuel, an approach that ensures prices for other commodities such as food remain stable.

In doing so, the government collected less Consumption Taxes, and it is the case that the government collected only $1.7 million for this month. In fact, before the recent rise in the cost of fuel at the pumps, this country enjoyed the lowest fuel prices in the OECS.

The price of fuel at the pumps will therefore remain unchanged for now, at $15.70 per gallon for gasoline and $15.50 per gallon for diesel.

Cabinet reaffirms its commitment to continue to monitor the price of oil on the international market and will adjust the price downwards when the price per barrel on the international market permits a reduction at the pumps.

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6 COMMENTS

  1. Lmaooooooooooo it’s required u have 5 cxc including English and maths yet still GOVMENT PPL CANT COUNT!!

    1.7 mill loss hurts u but when u gain 15 mill and other capitol u never see loss or to divert the money to other allocations

    Lmaoo I swear Antiguans make running a country so hard

    U can give ur child a APP on their tablet and they do a better job at a REALISTIC SIMULATION GAME like civilization or sims much less than real ppl running a country

    Government complain about money again!!

    Imagine paying ppl monthly like $2000 to still tax them every cent they spend daily even after taking levy and education. The things which are imported are taxed and still the merchant who brought it in has to tax u again for selling it over which was just taxed to bring it in and still tax the business for making over x amount of money for fiscal revenue and still tax the workers so realistically what money the working ppl actually have so essentially Govenment pay ppl recycle money which still go back to them and still want say revenue short lmaooo such poor accounting
    All dem tax in every direction and still y’a broke??

    If I had 1.7 mil I know what I could do with it how hard is it for one person to do a job correctly

    I bet Gaston gets upset when ppl corrects him or shows him how to improve soemthing cuz he didn’t think of it

    A government is a living Ponzi scheme but u do it u go jail lmaooo and u keep voting and making government continue

    Sad Lmaoo

    But guess what Gaston or UPP or Go green or DNA will always get away cuz Antigua ppl lie down and take anything even when all it don’t make sense. Like complain sweeter than progress in y’all country

    I have traveled around but Antigua is by far the most enriched retarded country I every come across

    Lmaoo how u boast and broke and stupid and tight and have plenty money hide away at the same time…. Y’all that stupid !! Lmaoo

  2. Making the right decision can be a very hard thing as a politician. Politicians are usually worried about their popularity. Therefore, decisions that are unpopular with the masses are often time avoided. other than most countries in the region and worldwide for that matter, the policy about pricing at the pump is used by a stabilizing mechanism, Price Build UP, as the CEO referred to it. With this method the government decides the price of the pump at any given time. Oil Prices fluctuate daily worldwide. And those prices are set on the market. No individual exporter can determine the price. Therefore, no matter where the oil comes from, it doesn’t matter, the price is the same. A cost that significantly affects the price of oil is the freight cost. The larger the ship the cheaper the cost per gallon. As volume matters. That is a normal economic principle. Then each country has their own taxes that will apply. And thereafter you have other charges such as storage and mark-ups for wholesale and retail. As I said Antigua through its mechanism of price buildup has been able to keep fuel prices very stable over a very long period. Residents do not have to wake up from day to day and see the prices at the pump change daily such as in other countries. I have not done the research, but it should be a challenge for anyone to do an analysis as to the price of fuel on the world market since the last price change in Antigua up to now. Cause the system we have in place was to stabilize the price at the pump. But that was not affordable anymore. It’s like going to the supermarket and at every shipment the supermarket receives they change their prices accordingly. Shoppers notice this and when they spend e.g. Weekly $400.00, they will not be able to purchase the same amount of goods every week. That is what is referred to as Inflation. Our inflation is for most of it Imported Inflation. As we produce very little for local consumption. We will soon see the prices of other food items go up as old stock are depleting. And prices for many commodities such as flour and sugar have increased. Even farmers of livestock are feeling it in the feed they import.
    Another price stabilizer, in not only Antigua and Barbuda, but the Eastern Caribbean, is the ECCB that pegs the US Dollar to the EC Dollar at a fixed rate for decades now. People in this region do not feel the ups and downs of their currency. Many other countries have to deal with this, and it can be catastrophic on the cost of living in that country. As an importer has to now not only deal with price hikes but also with exchange rates differences. We have therefore live a very sheltered life. We do not worry during the year what the price of fuel on the world market is and we do not stay awake as to the exchange rate of our EC Dollar. One would wonder how long this can go on. The strange thing with our people is, they want to have their cake and eat it too. I prefer to have this one time in a long-time change in gas price, rather than to have fluctuations at the pump at every shipment. I would hope that supermarkets also change the way in which they do pricing. Some call it ‘costing’ and do change their prices with every shipment. Most Inventory systems use a method called “Average Costing” anyway. Therefore, they should be able to do average sales price also. These prices could be set for a period of six months. This would bring stability in the budgets of households. A review of the price will then be done every six months. All these methods is what makes Antiguans and Barbudans the envy of the Caribbean, cause not many of them have such a stable economy where people do not have these worries to deal with daily. I cannot imagine to have to go to the baker every day and hear a different price for the bread. Another benefit that we take very lightly is that of foreign exchange. Some of us would remember that in order to buy US Dollar we used to have to go to the Ministry of Finance and request these US Dollars. We could not have a credit card if we didn’t have a US Dollar account at the bank. Today we all have credit cards although in EC Dollars, but we buy things and travel all over the world with our credit card. We buy things online in US Dollars and we do not have the worries where the US Dollars are coming from. Many other countries outside the ECCB cannot do that. They first have to secure their Foreign Exchange at their bank before they can use their credit card.
    This high price at the pump is temporary. This is not the first time. It had happened before. And we need to be patient and weather the storm. It is not a local price increase. It’s worldwide. And no government can set a price that can please its people. Not even the great USA.

    • Leaving the gouging price the same goes right along with narcissism and his/her truth which may or may not align with the truth. Narcissism does not allow admitting to being wrong and will always find someone else to blame for the consequences…Perhaps this might give an insight as to why the Cabinet members appear to be publicly silent on many of the issues.
      In case you are not aware shutting down the Keystone pipeline and refusing permits to drill on federal lands is very much responsible for the gas prices and inflation in the USA. It takes time to go green and the USA is not ready. We and much of the outside world are suffering because basically “stupid is as stupid does” and “Stupid” is too stupid/senile to care.

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