The last time the Transparency Board met in our country was on December 20 of the year we left behind and despite the reductions in the stock market, the price of diesel for more than two weeks has been fixed at 199 ALL per liter, while that of gasoline has been fixed at 177 ALL per liter.
The price of crude oil per barrel has fallen almost to the price level before the start of the war in Ukraine on February 24, 2022, but in Albania the reality appears differently and in quite a few cases, experts have accused the Board of acting as a cartel and not based on reductions of the price in the stock market.
Gerti Shella from INFOCIP has also highlighted such a finding, who wrote in a post on social networks that before the war the price of oil was 140 lek per liter, while today it only increases in Albania.
He adds that in our country the problem for this oil price is not the international market, but the government and its boards.
" Oil prices in the world are only falling (today it went to 77 USD per barrel). The drop is approaching the pre-war price (70 USD per barrel). In Albania, they change within the hour only when they rise, but they forget to decrease anymore.. Before the war, oil was 140 L/Liter, today it should be a maximum of 160 L/Liter with the rule of three... (Brent crude futures for the March contract had fallen to $77.10 a barrel, a 3.5% loss. WTI, the American benchmark , was down over 3.2%, falling to $74.47 per barrel. On Tuesday, both benchmarks plunged more than 4%.)
In our case, the cause is not the international market, but the government and its board, unfortunately. It is imperative that the market returns to normal measures now that prices are heading towards normalization. Competition must be restored quickly and the Board must close its mandate (without glory, as it did not help the Albanians in any case to cushion the fluctuations, and let the economy become more expensive as a result of the increased fuel prices that put it in movement.)
If the government takes timely measures to reflect the price reduction, then all the products that increase as a result of the fuel price must be reduced to the pre-war levels. If not, then, we will at least understand that the "market economy" is a fairy tale and at least wake up to face reality, as it is..." he writes in his post.
