Petrol at the pumps across St Vincent and the Grenadines went down by sixteen cents as of Monday 24 January 2022.
On Sunday, Prime Minister Ralph Gonsalves disclosed that there would have been a slight reduction in petroleum products starting Monday 24.
The new retail prices for the petroleum products are as follows:
Diesel: $12.38 per gallon, down from $12.59 per gallon
Low Sulphur Diesel: $12.31 per gallon, down from $12.41 per gallon
Gasoline: $14.56 per gallon, down from $14.72 per gallon.
Gonsalves said that while the reductions in the prices are not significant, they are still good to see.
He stated the relief is due to a drop in the rolling three month average for petroleum products in St Vincent and the Grenadines.
“I want to explain we introduce the measure, okay. Many years ago when it went up, it stayed up, and the public did not get relief when it came down. But we do it in this way so the citizens can benefit”.
“With the three months rolling average, you put the freight and insurance, the customs service charge, the company margin and the retailer’s margin; there is no mystery to it; we work it out”.
“When someone complains that Ralph raises the price, it’s not me; we have a formula, and it’s not a good policy to subsidise fuel; in fact, it’s a bad idea. It’s something which you have to use carefully because it’s an expensive imported commodity”.
Gonsalves said the only time the government had to subsidise fuel was in the period after June 2008 when the price went up internationally; crude oil went to over 147 US dollars per barrel.
