Irakli Lekvinadze: In October, we can also expect price correction in terms of growth - the main reason for the increase in fuel prices is the current trends in the world market
The main reason for the increase in fuel prices is the current trends in the world market - in October, we can expect price correction in terms of growth, the head of the Competition Agency Irakli Lekvinadze told journalists.
According to him, it is difficult to make a long-term prediction.
"We are a 100% fuel importing country. Several factors are responsible for the increase in fuel prices in the world. These are: the decision of a number of countries to reduce production, including our neighbor's decision to limit fuel exports, current processes in the Chinese economy regarding increased demand. If we look at the price, the price has gone from 750 dollars to 1000 dollars in recent months. The price of brand oil has increased from 75 dollars to 95 dollars. I can say the same about Russian fuel - it is from 55 dollars to about 80 dollars. Probably, this figure will increase even more. These are the processes that affect the price of fuel in Georgia, in contrast to the period of April-August of last year, when companies could reduce the price of fuel for consumers more thanks to the cheap resource, however, they kept the price, and because of this, our decision regarding the violation of the competition law was made in relation to them. However, compared to the same period last year, the processes are completely different now. In the month of October, we can expect some correction of prices in the direction of growth. The long-term prediction will depend on the current processes in the world market. It is quite difficult to make long-term predictons, however, for a certain period of time, we should probably expect the price to adjust again in the direction of growth. The agency will periodically publish interim reports, if we see the impact of any non-market factors, as we saw in August of last year and evaluated the 8-month period of 2022, we will naturally make a relevant decision," said Lekvinadze.
