Breaking news! Orbán cabinet scraps the fuel price cap with immediate effect!
In view of the recent crisis, the Hungarian government will remove the HUF 480 (EUR 1,17) price cap from Hungarian petrol stations, Gergely Gulyás, Minister of the Prime Minister’s Office, and Zsolt Hernádi, CEO of Mol, announced on Tuesday evening.
The fuel shortage has been growing in recent days at Hungarian petrol stations, with queues snaking near filling stations across the country. Mol said earlier it was seeing the effects of panic buying, but said it could not import more fuel from abroad because of the price cap.
Hungary has been exempted from the EU oil sanctions against Russia, but as Hungary relies on imports, we are also affected, as we can buy fuel from Europe at a higher price, Gulyás said. Petrol prices have skyrocketed because the EU reacted to Russian aggression with sanctions, he said.
The abolition of the price cap will raise inflation, the government expected, the minister said.
According to Hernádi, the sanctions created a situation in Europe that led to the introduction of a price cap in Hungary. But the barrier cap is now dysfunctional rather than functioning well. This decision has gone to the point where it was manageable with a mast. The whole European petrol market has been badly affected by the sanctions, he says.
According to Hernádi, a normalised supply situation can be achieved within one to one and a half months. Panic buying will end at 23:00 today, but it will take a few weeks before importers are back to the old system.
The Mol boss expects the abolition of the price cap to bring a noticeable improvement quickly.
According to Hernádi, the target price for Mol stations is 641 HUF (EUR 1,56)/liter for petrol and 699 HUF (EUR 1,70) /liter for diesel.
Two minutes after Gergely Gulyás announced the end of the petrol price freeze, the relevant gazette was published, stating that the regulation enter into force at 23:00.
Read alsoBreaking news! Orbán cabinet scraps the fuel price cap with immediate effect!
“The implementation of the sanctions has caused tangible disruptions to Hungary’s energy supplies,” Gulyás said.
MOL said in a letter to the energy minister on Monday that it would be unable to ensure supplies without imports, he said.
The company’s chief executive Zsolt Hernádi said a quarter of station pumps had run dry at some point in the past few days, an unprecedented occurrence during MOL’s existence.
What about the other price caps?
“Are there shortages of milk and sugar, will they be eliminated?” asked RTL.
If the shortage becomes general, then it should be phased out. If only 1% have a deficit, it is worth maintaining, if it causes national difficulties, it should be removed.
The government is monitoring the situation for all products, Gulyás said.
Source: Telex, Index, hvg