The price of a barrel of oil on world stock exchanges is currently around 80 dollars, which is approximately 20 percent less than a few weeks ago. If the price of oil on the world market remains at this level or continues to fall, the citizens of Bosnia and Herzegovina could soon pay for fuel cheaper by five to ten pfennigs per liter, and according to some estimates, even more.
The first corrections are already visible in purchase prices, but their effect will be felt at gas stations only after the existing stocks are used up. The current price of diesel at the pumps in Bosnia and Herzegovina is around three convertible marks per liter. Economic expert Damir Bećirović explains that the retail prices of oil derivatives do not immediately follow the trends on the world market.
“Given that the retail sale of petroleum products reacts with a delay of several weeks, which are needed for the transport and consumption of existing stocks, in two to three weeks we can expect a drop in the prices of petroleum products in Bosnia and Herzegovina,” said Bećirović.
Mladen Bošković, president of the Association of Petroleum Derivatives Traders at the Chamber of Commerce of the Federation of Bosnia and Herzegovina, is of a similar opinion.
‘We cannot expect anything to happen overnight. The price increase did not come overnight, so the price reduction cannot come overnight either. As stocks are replenished, it is realistic to expect a reduction in prices,’ said Bošković.
The federal government is trying to moderate the rise in prices by limiting margins in the wholesale and retail of petroleum products.
According to the current decision, the maximum margin in wholesale is six pfennigs per liter, while the maximum margin in retail is limited to 25 pfennigs per liter.
However, economists believe that this measure is not the answer to current market trends.
‘Certain excise duties or at least value added tax could be temporarily abolished. Limiting margins is not a new measure, it has been around for years. Just as earlier price restrictions were presented as something spectacular, now this measure is presented in the same way,’ said Bećirović.
In RS, there is a subsidy of ten pfennigs per liter of fuel.
From the Oil and Oil Derivatives Trade Group, they state that the prices at some gas stations are already below three convertible marks per liter and without the calculated subsidy, and that in the past little more than a month, fuel has become cheaper by about one mark.
However, even the expected new price reduction will not lead to the price reduction of other products and services.
‘Fuel is not the only variable and the only cost. There was an increase in the prices of raw materials, above all, an increase in the price of labor, so apart from the cheaper oil, I do not expect a decrease in the prices of other products and services,’ Bećirović pointed out.
The President of the Management Board of the Association for Consumer Protection Reaksija Dragan Jošić believes that it is necessary to pay more attention to the price control of basic foodstuffs.
“What we definitely have to deal with are the prices of basic foodstuffs. The government of the RS made a decision to limit the prices of basic foodstuffs, but the list of those products is small and should be significantly expanded, Jošić said.
Cheaper tank filling will leave the household budgets of Bosnia and Herzegovina. citizens a few marks more, but we will still have to wait for significant savings with a consumer basket that is twice as high as the average salary, it says Federalna.ba.
