Steep fuel price
hike in Curaçao
WILLEMSTAD--Starting Monday, May 12, fuel prices in Curaçao will be increased in phases.
In the first phase, the prices of gasoline and diesel will increase by twenty guilders cents per litre. Diesel will cost NAf. 1.26 per litre, and gasoline will cost NAf. 2.24 per litre.
Effective June 1, both prices will again go up by twenty guilder cents, and effective July 1, diesel will go up by another thirty cents.
This translates to a combined price hike of seventy cents for diesel and forty cents for gasoline. After July 1, the prices will be adjusted according to the international market and will no longer be subsidised by government companies Curoil (fuel distribution) and Aqualectra (water and electricity).
The union of private bus drivers is consulting its members to see what action they will take. The union said its members are now spending over a hundred guilder a day in fuel costs, on average.
The bus drivers believe an increase of their tariffs is not an, because their passengers simply can not afford it. They want government to either subsidise their fuel or remove the excise tax on it.
