The Icelandic fuel companies raised their fuel prices by ISK 5 per liter on Tuesday morning. One liter of gasoline now costs ISK 227-232 (USD 1.95-1.99, EUR 1.40-1.43) and one liter of diesel oil ISK 237 (USD 2.04, EUR 1.46). Fuel prices in Iceland have never been as high.
A N1 gas station in Reykjavík. Photo by Páll Kjartansson.
“We have reached the limit the public can accept,” Runólfur Ólafsson, managing director of the Icelandic Automobile Association, told Fréttabladid.
“We challenge the government to take quick and definite measures. This is starting to harm the community and we can see that traffic is reducing. Those who suffer the most by these increases are families with children and those who have to travel far for services,” Ólafsson added.
According to an article on visir.is last week, Social Democrat MP Sigmundur Ernir Rúnarsson finds it natural for the state to assist people and companies in coping with constant increases of fuel prices with a temporary lowering of fuel taxes.
“It isn’t a given that the proportion of the value added tax on these necessities should always be the same—the state makes more money with higher oil prices,” he said. “Now the percentage should drop, temporarily […], while we work our way through this tough period.”
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