COSTA RICA NEWS – The ministro de la Presidencia (Chief of Staff), Melvin Jiménez, shrugged off any responsibility of the government over the increase in the price of gasoline, the highest price ever that will paid at the pumps at the stroke of midnight tonight in Costa Rica.
[su_pullquote class=”H2″]The increase in the price of gasoline goes into effect at 12:01am Friday.[/su_pullquote]Jiménez said the government did no ask for the price increased approved by the Autoridad Reguladora de Servicios Públicos (Aresep) – government regulator of public prices – that on Friday consumers will pay a record ¢816 colones per litre of super.
To be clear, the state refinery, the Refinadora Costarricense de Petróleo (Recope) requested the increase.
President Luis Guillermo Solís last week called on the Aresep to provide details on the formula to set gasoline prices, and the Recope to review its fuel procurement mechanism with the objective of exploring cost reductions. Half of the price of fuel at the pumps is for product. The balance is for taxes (30%), Recope operating costs and profits and margins for the retailers (gasoline stations).
Basically, minister Jiménez accepted publicly a reality that the government is in control of gasoline prices. “We are now realizing that they (gasoline prices) are not under our control,” said Jiménez.
