The Government adopted a final draft of amendments to the law on excise duties on petroleum products.
The changes are aimed at protecting the living standards of citizens and reducing costs in the economy, the Government said.
The draft amendments, which will be sent to parliament to be discussed under urgent procedure, envisage a prompt response regarding the definition of excise duties in cases when oil price hikes are potentially harmful for the Croatian economy and the social welfare system.
According to the explanation offered by the Sanader Cabinet, the Government proposed the draft taking into account the current situation on the world crude oil market and trends in oil prices which lead to higher prices of petroleum products.
Earlier in the day Prime Minister Sanader criticised the INA company for what he called an unjustified and unacceptably high rise in prices of INA products earlier this week. He accused the INA management of deciding on the new price list without previous consultations with the relevant ministry and the government.
Today he urged the company to cut the prices.
INA today reported that it would cut the price of Eurosuper 95 NS back to 8 kuna after increasing it to 8.49 kuna last Tuesday. The prices of Eurodiesel and diesel fuel will be reduced by 6.4 and 6.7 percent respectively.
The new price of Eurodiesel is 7.17 kuna per litre (previously 7.66 kuna) and the price of diesel is 7 kuna (previously 7.50 kuna). The price of blue Eurodiesel, bought by farmers and fishermen, will drop by 6.7 percent to 4.50 kuna per litre (previously 4.82 kuna).
In a brief statement INA stated only that the retail prices of petrol had been corrected and that they would be in force from 28 April to 8 May 2006.
The prices of Super 95 and Super plus 98 and of heating oil will not change (7.98, 8.75 and 4.90 kuna per litre respectively).