Uruguay announces fuel tariffs increase

RIO DE JANEIRO, BRAZIL – The Government of Uruguay announced this Monday the increase of tariffs for the most consumed fuels in that country, such as naphtha (gasoline), diesel, and supergas, as a measure given the 15% increase in oil prices registered in the last month, which is added to the rise in previous months.

The Uruguayan Minister of Industry, Energy, and Mining, Omar Paganini, explained in a press conference that the increase would be UYU 3 (US$0.06) per liter, in the case of gasoline and diesel and the same amount per kilo in the case of supergas.

The measure came into effect from 00.00 hours this Tuesday, February 1, throughout the country.

Likewise, Paganini insisted that the increase “is not all that it should be” and affirmed that “it should be double”.

“The lowest possible increase was made, also taking into account the finances of Ancap (National Fuel, Alcohol, and Portland Administration)”.

In this sense, the Ministry of Energy issued a statement detailing that the Executive Power decided to use extraordinary profits of Ancap to “mitigate the strong escalation” of costs that have been registered with oil.

“It is a significantly lower increase than the international prices reflected in the PPI (producer price index) published by the Regulatory Unit of Energy and Water Services (Ursea), which were driven by a sharp rise in oil and freight costs”, the document states.

Meanwhile, this portfolio remarked that the last tariff adjustment was made in August 2021. Since that date, the Government has absorbed 100% of the increases with the extraordinary profits of Ancap, which, as they indicated, were destined to “benefit the consumers” of fuels.

In this context, Paganini indicated that the government “continues to bet” to mitigate “as much as possible” as long as Ancap’s accounts “support it”.

With information from EFE