Media appearances

Yesterday, July 9, on B1.ro, a wider discussion about Romania as a regional "leader" in fuel prices. B1.ro made some nice cartoons showing the comparative prices of petrol and diesel (Romania versus other countries) which were a good support for our discussion. The most perplexing aspect that emerges from the regional picture is how does Hungary (with a VAT of 27%) manage to have a lower diesel price than Romania (which has a VAT of 21%)?… The culprit is the excise tax, which has doubled in our country (compared to what it was 2 years ago). The inability of the state to collect revenues for the state budget cannot be solved by excessively taxing those who are still "alive" (from an economic point of view). By maintaining excessive taxation, the Romanian state hits directly on the middle class, which is sent to a precarious / subsistence regime.

Yesterday, July 9, on Digi24, a comparative look at gasoline and diesel prices in the region. The Romanian state shows no signs that it cares about drivers and continues with excessive taxation, which results in the fact that Romania has the highest fuel prices in the region. The approach of the Romanian state denotes an extremely cynical way of thinking: if you could afford a car, you must also be able to afford to pay for a liter of petrol/diesel. The excise duty remains double compared to Bulgaria, Romanian drivers – "to manage".

Intervention from yesterday, July 8, at Digi24, about how the price of the barrel is starting to rise again ($78/barrel of Brent) while the Romanians have not yet experienced the cheapening at the pump that was supposed to result from the quote of $72/barrel of Brent.

My dialogue with the hosts of "Buna diminea, Romania" – B1.ro, from July 7, about the effects of the surcharge on the economy. #policriza #competition council #fuel prices

My discussion last Sunday, July 5, about comparative taxation in the region (Romania vs. Bulgaria vs. Moldova vs. Ukraine). The Romanian state is killing the economy (especially small and medium-sized companies). It destroys its taxable base in an attempt to solve a problem of bad governance and weak administrative capacity by overtaxing drivers and increasing the excise tax to a level that cannot support what our economy can support at this moment.

On July 2, at Digi24, about the too large adjustment gap between international quotations and local prices. However, the price difference for standard diesel between Romania (9.4 lei/liter) and Bulgaria (8 lei/liter) comes mainly from the excise tax, which here is almost double compared to Bulgarians: 0.55 EUR vs 0.33 EUR per liter (or 2.8 lei in Romania versus 1.7 lei in Bulgaria). The solution is simple – lowering the excise duty to the level practiced by Bulgaria.

On July 1st, at B1.ro, commenting on the reasons why in Romania prices are kept high much more than would be normal. What do we observe in our country? When it is expensive, the prices at the pump are very quickly correlated with the international quotations. When it's cheap, the transmission belt no longer works so well and the discounts are transferred much more slowly to the consumer. The argument of stocks (that prices are kept high because we are now consuming crude oil that was bought when the price was higher) can be credible, but only up to a point. If, year after year, we observe the same pattern (almost real-time price increases vs slow-down prices), we are dealing with a deliberate practice, in which case gas stations have to give explanations not only to the Government, but also to the Competition Council.

Tuesday, June 30, on Digi24 about the exit from the state of emergency in the fuel market. Even if in the short term there will be some price increases (within the limit of 30 banis), these increases should not last more than a few days, since the decrease in the international quotation for crude oil (which reached $72/barrel of Brent) should already be transmitted in the prices at the pump. In July, we have to return to the prices we had at the end of February.

Tuesday, June 30, on B1.ro talking about the expiration of the state of emergency, established in April, in the fuel market. On the last hundred meters, the PSD MPs would have wanted to extend the measures by another 3 months. However, the evolution of international quotations does not justify this. If PSD really wants to help Romanian drivers, they should fight for the halving of the excise tax, which would mean a reduction of 1.5 leu, not 36 money.

My discussion on Monday, June 29 with Anca Orheian, at Digi24, about the opportunity to extend the state of emergency in the fuel market. From my point of view, the extension is NOT necessary because the crude oil price dropped dramatically reaching $72/barrel of Brent. Therefore, the month of July must bring significant reductions at the pump, by no means increases in price.