The escalation of the conflict in the Middle East has strongly shaken the world oil market. As expected, it also affected our country. A drastic jump in prices is noticeable at gas stations in Bosnia and Herzegovina these days. Diesel crossed 3 marks and 20 pfennigs. All this, experts warn, will affect the already fragile economy of Bosnia and Herzegovina. Chain price increases are to be expected.
A full tank has become a luxury. Prices at gas pumps in Bosnia and Herzegovina vary from place to place, and at some of them diesel has exceeded 3 marks. Due to this price jump, the pumps are seeing a drop in traffic.
“Traffic at the gas station has decreased a lot,” says one employee at the gas station.
Energy sources – generator of inflation. More expensive fuel means more expensive transport, and then more expensive products and services, according to the profession.
“What will happen to us is a micro galloping inflation, a micro increase in the price of goods that will not be very visible at the moment, but if you take a period of one, two, three months, then you would see how much it has become more expensive”, says economist Zoran Pavlović.
Although the state cannot fully control world oil prices, it can mitigate the consequences for citizens.
“We have to think about everything in time, or form commodity reserves or have enough money to intervene at a given moment, but even when we have money, but we don’t have a tap that we can justify for that energy source to come to us, we still haven’t solved the issue,” says economist Željko Rička.
The issue in these crisis situations could be solved by temporarily abolishing or reducing excise taxes, according to the business community, among others.
“I would use the opportunity to agitate so that we all show sensibility in moments like this, because employers or businessmen definitely give up their profits to a large extent to the detriment of the retail price,” emphasizes Nihad Imširević, president of the FBiH Employers’ Association.
After the new fuel prices, state representative Saša Magazinović called on the House of Peoples to adopt the law on excise taxes. Let us remind you that the law has been blocked for a long time. Blockades, it is known, come from the RS.
“I appeal to all delegates to first of all find this item on the agenda, and then to adopt it, because I can understand that Republika Srpska lacks money, but I cannot understand that the budget of the RS is more important to them than the budget of all the citizens of BiH,” he said.
Citizens are looking for a way to survive each new blow to the household budget. They are afraid of new price increases.
The big powers decide, and the small ones pay the consequences.
“I sincerely hope that the rise in prices on the American market will cause big problems for President Trump and that this will be a reason for him to think that it is time to stop the further escalation of the conflict with Iran,” adds Pavlović.
While global decisions shape prices, it is the government’s responsibility to protect citizens’ standards. So now they are on the move.
