4:01
Oil companies will increase their fuel prices by 4% in the early hours of Wednesday, as confirmed by sector sources. Half of the increase is due to compensation for the devaluation and the other half to the recomposition of prices as a result of inflation.
It is important to remember that until a few hours ago there was speculation that the increase would be close to 8%, but the national government postponed the update of fuel taxes until June.
As a reference price, super gasoline in the Autonomous City of Buenos Aires (CABA) would go from the current $837 to about $870, while premium gasoline would advance from $1,033 to $1,074.
For its part, common diesel would stop costing $883 and would sell at a value close to $918. Finally, premium diesel would advance from $1,123 to $1,167, taking into consideration the cheapest values on the market.
Of course, prices vary greatly depending on the flag and geographical area. In Misiones, for example, most service stations display a value of $997 for super gasoline, so it is practically a fact that in the next few hours this fuel will definitely pass the $1,000 barrier in that province.
In any case, beyond price differences, all the country’s provinces have been suffering from strong increases in outlets. Taking CABA as an example, in the last twelve months the price of a liter of super gasoline went from $163.10 to $744, registering a total increase of 356.16% in that period.
The impact of the tax
The Liquid Fuel Tax (ICL) was frozen from mid-2021 until last February, when the first of four increase installments began to be applied based on the quarterly inflation of 2021 and 2022 as provided by the Ministry of Energy.
The Ministry of Economy hopes to add an additional 0.5 points of GDP this year for this concept to compensate for the failed attempt in Congress to increase withholdings with the first “Bases Law.” A kind of shortcut they found to help sustain the fiscal surplus.
On March 1, the tax update corresponding to the first and second quarters of 2023 was calculated. In April, the increase corresponding to the third quarter was applied. The average increases in fuel were 7.5% and 4.6%, respectively, which totaled an increase of 110% since Javier Milei took office.
As defined by the Government through Decree 107/2024, in May the increase corresponding to the fourth quarter of last year was to be transferred, which would be the one with the greatest impact due to the inflationary acceleration generated by the devaluation. However, the date will finally be postponed.
Nation confirmed that it will publish a Decree in the Official Gazette, through which the date on which the update will take effect “corresponding to the fourth quarter of 2023 of the Taxes on Fuels and Carbon Dioxide for unleaded gasoline, will be deferred. virgin gasoline and diesel, as of June 1, 2024
The Argentine Institute of Fiscal Analysis (Iaraf) estimated through a report accessed by Infobae that the process of increasing the ICL will imply, when it is finally executed, an increase in the fixed amount tax of $70 that raises the tax from $132 per liter to $202, that is, a jump of 53 percent.
Taking into account the current prices in YPF, they projected: “Considering the value of a liter of super gasoline, this update of the tax (under the assumption of full transfer) would imply going from a value of $966 to $1,036 in the city of Córdoba, that is That is, an increase of 7.2%. In CABA it would go from $837 to $907, increasing 8.3 percent.”
