Economic hit comes from oil

29/02/2012 15:05

The global economy is being threatened by another hit that few people
expected. The IMF Chief, Christine Lagard announced two days ago that
besides the debt crisis, the world economy is now endangered by the oil
price increase that is being caused by the tensions in Iran and the
increased demand, due to the harsh winter.

The oil price in the international stock markets increased with 10.3% and only recently it started to drop. These fluctuations in the international market were quickly reflected in the domestic market. Some gas stations have sold gasoline with 193 ALL, while diesel varied from 184 to 186 ALL per liter.

Compared to the beginning of the year, the oil prices for the citizens have increased with 7-8 ALL per liter. This has affected the national production greatly. The first signals of production drops came from the agriculture, especially the green houses that use gas for heating, but also from the construction industry; the cement production line, the high price of which has increased the production cost.

But besides the external causes, the oil prices in the domestic market are also related with other interior factors. The excise increase and the change of the car tax that has been transferred to the fuel price were another reason for the increase.

Besides the price increase in the international market, the importers blame the high fees for oil storage in ports. According to them, most of the prices are affected by the taxes, and only a small part of it goes to the company as profit.

This price increase in these levels, as the IMF has warned, will have negative effects in the inflation and the shrinking of interior consumption, which today is the Achilles heel for the economic growth.

When INSTAT measured the inflation on January of this year, they noted that only by the 1.8% increase of the oil price and 1% of gasoline, the transport was affected with 1.3% more.

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