QCOSTARICA – Don’t freak out, expecting any less would be living an illusion, to think gasoline prices would not be maintaining its increasing trend.
This time, however, the increase is not coming from the Recope, the Costa Rica refinery that does not refine anything, that won’t be until Friday, but rather from the Ministry of Finance (Ministerio de Hacienda), which updated the single tax on fuels upwards.
The Autoridad Reguladora de los Servicios Públicos (Aresep) made the announcement on Tuesday, the tax increase would add ¢2 colones for a liter of super and regular gasoline and ¢1 colon for diesel, to the already high prices.
The “impuesto único de los combustibles” (single fuel tax) is adjusted every three months, as dictated by law.
With the change, which will take effect as soon as it is published in the official gazette, most likely before the weekend, in time for Mother’s Day (on Sunday, Augustt 15), a liter of Super will go from ¢749 to ¢751, regular from ¢725 to ¢727 and diesel from ¢597 to ¢598.
The fuel tax currently represents 35.2% of the price of a liter of super gasoline (¢264; 34.7% of regular (¢252) and 24.9% of diesel (¢149).
The announcement comes amid pressure from legislators for a reform that achieves, precisely, to lower this tax to counteract the constant increase in the price of fuels in 2021.
Fuel prices in Costa Rica are fixed by a formula where the Recope files, every second Friday of a new month, a change with the Aresep, that then goes into action with a public hearing resulting in the most likely hood of approving whatever the Recope proposed, which has been eight consecutive increases.
Based on the preceding, we can expect a new hike request in two days, which most likely will take effect at the end of the month.
