The specialized site Global Petrol Prices has an updated survey that has just been published for gasoline and allows easy comparison of prices around the world.
As expected, the countries with the cheapest litre of petrol in the world are oil-producing countries: Iran, Libya and Venezuela sell the fuel, taxes included, for between 2.9 and 3.5 cents. That is, at today’s official exchange rate, about 30 pesos.
The next few countries with cheap gasoline also have oil availability, but prices are a long way off, 10 times higher than those of the first three.
At the other end of the spectrum, those who want to fill up with petrol in Hong Kong have to pay $3.24 per litre, a far cry from the $2.29 of the second most expensive country in the world, the Principality of Monaco.
According to the survey, the price paid in Argentina is around 1,122 dollars per liter, or at the official rate something like 1,060 pesos, and it is ranked 58th out of the 169 countries in which prices are surveyed. As an example of the complexity with which fuel prices are defined, gasoline is sold in our country at almost the same price as in China (1,165 U$S/liter) or in Australia (1,138 U$S/liter).
Price of gasoline in Latin America
Given the complexity with which each economy determines the value of fuels, it may be more interesting to look at the panorama in our subcontinent where there is more similarity in socio-economic structures and conditions.
Cristina Helena de Mello, professor of economics at the Pontifical Catholic University of São Paulo (PUC), tells Bloomberg Linea that “the main difference lies in taxes and subsidies. Of course, there are also costs of product distribution and greater or lesser competition in distribution.”
Venezuela and Bolivia are an example of how price subsidization by the State can affect the final price that consumers pay, but also the fiscal pressures that this decision can entail.
The most expensive gasoline in Latin America
On the other hand, the countries with the most expensive gasoline prices are Uruguay (US$ 1.97 per liter), Chile (US$ 1.45) and Costa Rica (US$ 1.40).
Roberto Carnicer, director of the Energy Institute at the Universidad Austral in Argentina, explains to this newspaper that “Chile and Uruguay import gasoline or crude oil for gasoline,” which directly affects prices.
