The price of gasoline at the pumps could increase by up to 30 percent in three to four months, if Serbia does not find a solution to the NIS sanctions, an energy analyst claims for "Vreme".
America is put the Oil Industry of Serbia under sanctions due to the political turmoil with Russia, but the consequences of this decision could be felt very quickly by all consumers in Serbia.
"The state will not be able to survive under these conditions for much longer," energy expert Miodrag Kapor told Vreme. "Serbia will have to decide very quickly - whether to reduce the excise taxes that the state budget collects for energy, and in that way depress public finances, or to let the price of fuel rise, so the citizens would be directly affected."
"Vreme" already writes in its new issue that a new strategy for the flow of oil from Hungary is being prepared, and if this or any other plan does not work, the consequences could be financial.
Serbia's biggest problem is that NIS controls about 80 percent of the fuel market in Serbia. Kapor hopes that he will new foreign players to enter the Serbian market and that the quantities that domestic warehouses can store will increase rapidly. However, Russia has been refusing to expand its storage capacity in Serbia for decades, so that this entire part of the Balkans would constantly depend on the inflow of energy from the East.
"Oil will not disappear overnight, but the reserves could be exhausted in three to four months, and if nothing else is done, first there will be a drastic increase in the price of fuel, up to 30 percent, and then there will be a shortage. Simply, inflationary pressure will do its job and energy sources will be peppered," he adds.
Excise taxes on fuel in Serbia, they are among the highest not only in the region, but also in the whole of Europe, because the state collects the highest levy per liter of gasoline. According to the data of the Association of Private Gas Stations in Serbia, in the total price of diesel, the amount of excise duty is 69,12 dinars per liter, in gasoline 67,22 dinars per liter, and in liquid petroleum gas (LPG) 52,49 dinars per liter.
Serbia also has the option to prevent the increase in fuel prices by simply reducing its share - the share of excise duty. However, this could only mean lower costs for citizens on the one hand, and significantly higher costs on the other, because the reduction of money in the state coffers from energy sources would mean that the Ministry of Finance would have to increase other levies - on excise taxes for other goods and services.
This could make food more expensive, increase levies on goods that normally had low excise duties, such as baby equipment, or simply cancel the benefits that the state gave.
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