QCOSTARICA – The price of a liter of gasoline will increase next week, following Tuesday’s price hike approval by the Regulatory Authority for Public Services (Autoridad Reguladora de los Servicios Públicos – Aresep).
The hike is of ¢31 per liter of super, ¢29 for regular/plus and ¢7 for diesel, setting the price per liter at the pumps to ¢601 for super, ¢574 for regular/plus and ¢500 for diesel.
Carolina Mora, spokesperson for the Aresep, said the resolution was sent to the national printed on Wednesday. The printer has three business days to publish it in La Gaceta, with the new prices taking effect the following day of publication.
Normally we would see the hike in effect by the weekend. However, given that Thursday and Friday are legal holidays, and Saturdays and Sundays are not business days, the hike is expected to take effect by mid-week next week.
The price hike is based on a monthly analysis of fuel prices on international markets and the exchange rate of the dollar.
Recope, the state refinery, in its price hike request said they found an increase of 13% for gasoline and 4.5% for diesel, and taking into account the exchange rate fell 0.6%.
This is the second price hike this year after two consecutive drops.
The last increase was on February 27, when gasoline prices rose ¢34 for a liter of super, ¢42 for regular/plus and ¢19 for diesel.
