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Iran has raised the price of fuel for drivers who consume more than 160 liters per month, while maintaining subsidies below that amount, which makes fuel among the cheapest in the world, Iranian media reported this Wednesday.
The Iranian Cabinet issued a notification announcing a third gasoline price of 50,000 rials or 0.04 euros for users who exceed 160 liters per month, a measure that will come into effect on December 6, Iran Front Page explained.
The Government maintains the population's access to 60 liters of gasoline per month for 15,000 rials per liter or 0.01 euros, and after that amount, the cost doubles to 30,000 rials or 0.02 euros if up to 100 more liters are consumed, when the third announced price is reached.
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Those subsidized prices have been maintained since 2019, when the last increase occurred amid protests that caused more than 300 deaths, and according to analysts, they have not been raised since then for fear of new demonstrations.
The Islamic Republic of Iran has one of the lowest fuel prices in the world, even below water, but the authorities have been discussing for months the need to raise costs given the battered economy of the Persian country, which suffers from 40% inflation and whose currency is in continuous devaluation.
The new price of 50,000 rials per liter represents 10% of the actual cost of fuel, according to the Cabinet.
Those subsidies cost the Iranian state nearly 70 billion euros annually, or almost 20% of its national budget and double its oil exports, according to data from the Chamber of Commerce, a situation that the President of Iran, Masud Pezeshkian, has considered unsustainable.
"There is no doubt that gasoline should become more expensive," said the reformist leader last month.
All of this in a country that has the second-largest world reserves of gas and oil, but at the same time suffers from energy shortages due to a lack of investment in the sector, partly due to international sanctions that limit its foreign trade.
