Micovic: Increase of Excise Taxes on Petrol and Diesel Fuel Will Reduce Budget Revenues, Because Consumption Will Drop

The increase of the excise taxes on oil products by 8%, or slightly over five dinars per liter, from October 1, will not be followed by an increase of budget revenues by that amount; instead, consumption will drop, said the secretary-general of the Association of Oil Companies of Serbia, Tomislav Micovic.

– We have told the state how the increase of excise taxes could have a negative impact on the sale of oil products, and with that on the budget revenues. Each increase of excise taxes leads to a lower consumption – Micovic said for RTS.

He added that the difference in the prices of oil products in Serbia and the neighborhood was mostly down to the state taxes.

He said that the increase of the excise taxes on oil products was an expense for companies and that to what it extent it would influence the price also depended on other factors, such as the oil price trend.

Micovic said that, in the preceding two years, all countries had dealt with the problem of how to reduce state taxes so as to decrease the impact of the growth of the prices of oil in the global market on the retail price.

The honorary president of the Serbian Association of Employers, Nebojsa Atanackovic, said that, from October 1, the prices of fuel would increase due to the increase of the excise taxes by 8% regardless of whether the price would grow based on the increase of the prices of oil products at the Mediterranean market.

– The price of diesel fuel in Serbia is growing faster than the price of petrol, because more of it is spent, so the turnover is bigger, and so are the companies’ revenues. Some vehicles, like trucks, consume diesel exclusively, so the global consumption of that oil product is higher – Atanackovic said for the Beta news agency.

As he said, it is difficult to find out what kind of an agreement the state made with Naftna Industrija Srbije (NIS) when it “froze” the price of diesel for agriculturists at RSD 179 per liter. He adds that the state surely compensated for that loss by increasing the prices of that fuel for the citizens and other consumers.

NIS announced on Friday that, for the next seven days, a liter of diesel would cost RSD 207, three dinars more than the previous week, and that the price of petrol would remain the same, RSD 189.

Udruženje naftnih kompanija Srbije Beograd

Unija poslodavaca Srbije Beograd

NIS a.d. Novi Sad

Association of Oil Companies of Serbia

Nafna industrija Srbije

NIS

Tomislav Mićović

Nebojša Atanacković

Mediterranean market

increase of petrol excise taxes

increase of diesel fuel excise taxes

increase of oil product excise taxes

price of oil

price of diesel fuel