The rise of fuel prices that angered Bosnians is the result of a rise of the excise tax that was adopted in February, macroeconomic analyst Faruk Hadzic told N1.
“That was the trigger. The Government had been warned that this would happen, everyone criticized it,” he said, adding that the distributors used the situation to raise the prices even more.
Citizens had on Sunday staged protests in several cities, blocking streets for an hour. In some cities, they continued to do it for days.
Transportation companies had initiated the protests and said they would organize people to daily protest at the same time until authorities start listening to their demands. The protesters said an acceptable price for them would be between BAM 1.50 and 1.70 (EUR 0.75-0.85).
Under international pressure, Bosnia’s lawmakers decided in favour of raising the excise tax. The decision was heavily criticized by opposition parties.
Hadzic said that fuel prices have also increased on the global market by more than BAM 0,50 a litre – which means the price should now stand at BAM 2,36.
But the rise in fuel prices also caused the prices of other goods and services to rise, Hadzic said.
“Fuel is an important factor, and not only for transport. We have been warning that there will be a direct increase in fuel prices. The wave of price increases also includes hikes in the prices of food and other products,” he said, adding that “every price hike generates another price hike.”
The price of fuel in Republika Srpska (RS), the Serb-dominated semi-autonomous entity, is somewhat lower than that in the other entity, the Federation (FBiH). The RS Ministry of Trade and Tourism had announced a price drop as of Thursday, and some gas stations have already reduced the prices by BAM 0.05 on Wednesday.
“This is not enough,” the analyst said.
“There is space for decreasing the price. It should be down by BAM 0.3. The state has to make the next move and decrease the excise tax on fuel as the citizens alone can not endure the burden of the increase,” he said.
“It would be fair if the cost would be shared between the state and distributors,” Hadzic added.
