Mihajlovic: Electricity and gas prices won't go up, restrictions on fuel price to remain

Zorana Mihajlovic / Photo: Tanjug/Strahinja Acimovic

Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Energy Zorana Mihajlovic said today that there is enough energy in Serbia and that the prices of electricity, heating and gas will not be increased, while certain restrictions on the price of petroleum products will remain in place - but that a better balance will be struck between wholesale and retail prices.

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The government has limited the maximum price of 95 gasoline to 171 dinars and of diesel to 179 dinars, an order which expires on March 12.

Asked whether the price of fuel would increase since the existing regulation on restrictions would not be extended, the minister said that oil on the stock exchange a year ago cost $60 per barrel, while it is now $135.

"That is why we introduced restrictions on the retail price and we are now discussing with the ministries of finance and trade, but the regulation will remain in force, we will see how to achieve a better balance between wholesale and retail prices," she added.

She also said that the state has not yet considered the possible purchase of the Russian share in the oil company NIS.

She thus answered a question from a journalist at the Kopaonik Business Forum, about whether the state will buy Gazprom's share and whether there has been talk about this thus far.

She also said that Serbia receives gas from two directions and that we would be in big trouble now if there was only the route through Ukraine and Hungary. She recalled that the Balkan Stream gas pipeline has been built in Serbia and that we get gas via Bulgaria.

"We have a full gas storage at Banatski Dvor and for now things are working. If other problems occur and the supply of gas stops, we have the possibility of using Banatski Dvor, substituting gas with other energy sources or buying gas from other storage facilities in Europe," said Mihajlovic.

The minister added that she "does not think that the economy and citizens will be left without gas, and things are functioning for now; everything is going as before."

(Telegraf Biznis)