QCOSTARICA – As if the nine increases for the year in the price of fuels were not enough, one more will occur by the end of this month. And we’re quite sure won’t be the last.
RECOPE, the Costa Rica refinery that refines nothing, submitted a new request for an increase to the regulating authority on Friday, October 8, that when, not if, it is approved, the price of a liter of super gasoline at the pumps would increase by ¢3 colones, regular by ¢6 and diesel by ¢25.
The new prices at the pumps before the end of October or the first week in November would be ¢737 (currently ¢734) for a liter of super, ¢721 (currently ¢715) for regular and ¢621 for diesel (currently ¢596).
Costa Rica maintains one of the highest fuel prices in the isthmus.
Freddy Martínez, head of Recope’s Department of Economic and Financial Studies, said that the request for an increase is due to international fuel prices.
“The decreases in inventories in the United States due to the effects of Hurricane Ida, in August, as well as the imbalance in the supply and demand of natural gas that impacts crude oil and fuels … coupled with an inflexible position by OPEC ( producing countries) in terms of increasing their oil supply, they are generating a kind of global energy crisis,” said the official.
RECOPE assured that another factor influencing the rise is demand in countries that are trying to prepare for winter, such as China.
Another key element is the devaluation of the colon against the dollar.
Filling a 45 liter tank (the fuel tank of a typical sedan in Costa Rica) costs ¢8,955 more today that in it did nine months ago; but if it is a 60 liter tank, the increase is ¢11,940 more per fill up than in December 2020.
