SULAIMANI (ESTA) — Gasoline prices will not drop in the Kurdistan Region, the head of the energy and industry committee in Sulaimani provincial council Karim Ali told Esta Media Network in a statement.
“The Kurdistan Region government did not take sufficient steps in order to drop fuel prices”, adding that “The decision of removing taxation on gasoline has no effect on lowering the prices,” Ali told Esta.
“Instead of removing the taxation on imported fuel, there must be taxation on exported fuel, the existing fuel in the Region must be utilized for local not to be exported to outside,” he said.
“The government does not monitor gasoline prices, thus made the traders to not drop the prices”, noting “We have notified the government several times including the Region’s Natural Resources Ministry to take the required measures, however, it did not have any results” he added.
High gasoline prices have dragged the people’s of the region into financial difficulty, in recent months, the prices hit a new record of $1 per litter, meanwhile, in recent years the maximum price was around 0.50$.
Fuel prices have gone up since the late summer of 2021, and many protests have taken place in Sulaimani and Erbil as well in order to pressure the government to drop the fuel prices, however, up to this point, the prices remain unchanged and even continue to hike.
