Croatia caps fuel prices to curb rising energy costs

LONDON

Croatia has introduced new measures to cap fuel prices in response to rising energy costs, Prime Minister Andrej Plenkovic announced on Monday.

Speaking at the start of a government session, Plenkovic said authorities had decided to intervene in the market to ease pressure on consumers. The move will take effect from Tuesday.

Under the new measures, the price of a liter of basic petrol will be set at €1.62 ($1.75), while Euro-diesel will cost €1.73 per liter.

He said the government had reduced part of the excise duty as well as a portion of fuel distributors’ margins in order to bring prices down.

Plenkovic noted that without intervention, the price of Eurosuper petrol would have reached €1.71 per liter, compared with its current level of €1.50. Instead, it will rise more modestly to €1.62 under the new policy.

He also highlighted that the adjusted price remains more than 20 cents lower than the peak recorded four years ago.

This came as regional escalation has continued to flare since the US and Israel launched a joint offensive on Iran on Feb. 28, killing so far over 1,340 people, including then-Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei.

The Strait of Hormuz has been effectively disrupted since early March. Around 20 million barrels of oil normally pass through it daily, and its disruption has driven up shipping costs and pushed global oil prices higher.