As has happened since October 2022, the national government is expected to announce tomorrow the new gas prices that will be in force in the country from the first of May.
Seven months ago the average price per gallon was 9,180 pesos and now it is at 11,167 pesos, that is to say that it has increased 1,987 pesos during this time. For April, the increase was 401 pesos and it is expected that for May the increase will be similar.
(Also read: Gasoline price: Does Colombia have one of the most expensive in the world?).
The newly appointed Finance Minister, Ricardo Bonilla, assured that the cost of gasoline will continue to rise until it is on a par with the international price. In the next three years it would reach approximately 16,000 pesos per gallon.
With these increases, the aim is to reduce the fiscal gap (26.3 trillion pesos as of December 2022) that the Fuel Price Stabilization Fund (FEPC) has, since its operation allowed Colombians not to pay a such a high price.
Despite growing concerns about global warming, there is strong opposition to economic measures
According to the ‘Latam Consumer and Shopper Update’ carried out by Bain & Company, 63 percent of Colombian consumers would not be willing to pay a higher price for gasolineif this is also done to discourage consumption and protect the environment, despite the fact that 78.6 percent of the population is concerned about the consequences of climate change.
«In Colombia we can observe a very particular behavior, because despite declaring that they are more concerned about global warmingthere is strong opposition to economic measures whose purpose is reduce greenhouse gas emissions«, highlights Diego Santamaría, partner at Bain & Company.
However, this reality is not exclusive to the Colombian market, because when reviewing the figures in all of Latin America the percentage of rejection of the increase in prices rises to 72 percentwhich configures a challenging panorama for the continent when it comes to meeting its goals associated with reducing the carbon footprint derived from the use of fuel.
(Also read: Gasoline vs. electric motorcycle: Which one best suits your needs?).
Jaiver Nieto. TIME
Consequently, Bain & Company experts point out that it is essential that, both from the public and private sectors, measures agreed with the community are adopted for the consolidation of greater environmental resilience.
All this in order to build actions that in the medium and long term enable the progressive reduction of emissions of harmful substances into the atmosphere, without directly impacting the household economy that have been affected by inflation worldwide.
ECONOMY