Gasoline prices in Antigua and Barbuda lowest in ECCU

Consumers in Antigua and Barbuda are paying the lowest prices for gasoline at the
pumps compared to their counterparts in the Eastern Caribbean Currency Union
(ECCU).
A report issued by the ECCU detailing the price of gasoline in the currency union,
it said that the average price of gasoline was $16.12cents. In the eight countries
making up the ECCU – Anguilla, Antigua and Barbuda, Dominica, Grenada,
Montserrat, St. Kitts and Nevis, St Lucia and St. Vincent and the Grenadines – the
prices range from as high as $17.98cents in Montserrat to $13.99cents in Antigua
and Barbuda at the end of August this year.
Speaking in parliament on Monday, Prime Minister Gaston Browne said the cost of
oil on the world market has been increasing steadily over the past months but the
government took a policy decision not to pass on the increases to the consumer but
absorbing the increases.
“Petroleum prices have risen to approximately US$100 per barrel and the fact that
there has not been an increase for gasoline at the pumps is because my government
has subsidized the fuel sold to consumers. In fact, for this month and next month
we will be paying West Indies Oil Company. So instead of collecting up to $3
million in consumption taxes from WIOC, the government will in fact be paying
them for fuel in other to keep the prices down,” he revealed.
He added that this is another way that the government’s policies are assisting
residents of Antigua and Barbuda by keeping the cost of living down.
With respect to the price of diesel, Antigua and Barbuda pays the second lowest
($14.25cents). Montserrat consumers pay the lowest at $14.10cents.
According to the ECCU report gasoline prices declined by almost nine percent in
August 2023 compared with the same month last year, while diesel declined by an
average of 15 percent across the currency union.