The Irfaan Ali led government has slashed the cost of gasoline and diesel from the Guyana Oil Company Limited (GUYOIL) in a bid to bring further relief to consumers across the country.
In a statement on Saturday, the Finance Ministry said the price of gasoline will be reduced by 20 percent and the price of diesel will be slashed by 15 percent.
These changes are expected to become effective as early as Sunday.
According to the Finance Ministry, during the first half of 2022, global oil prices surged more than 50 percent, increasing from US$77 per barrel at the end of December 2021 to US$120 in June; having risen as high as US$137 per barrel primarily as a result of the Russian invasion of Ukraine.
“The impact of the dramatic increases in oil prices were significant and given the interconnected nature of the global economy, translated into higher cost of landing fuel in Guyana.”
The statement added that in order to mitigate the impact of rising global fuel prices on domestic consumers and the productive sectors to which fuel is a key input, the Government lowered the excise tax rate on both gasoline and diesel from ten percent to zero percent in March of this year.
“Since resuming office in August 2020, the PPP/C Government has implemented a suite of measures to ease the cost-of-living pressures and to improve disposable incomes, in an ongoing effort to address these issues head-on and to mitigate the effects of rising prices globally on all Guyanese citizens.”
The ministry noted that the reduction in excise taxes is one such measure within the wide menu of measures implemented by the Government since assuming office.
The International Monetary Fund (IMF) says overall economic growth is projected to be 57.8 percent this year for Guyana as the country continues to recover from the coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic-induced recession in 2020, and protracted political transition, non-oil economic growth.
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