- Published: Friday, January 24, 2020-
Fuel prices to be identical throughout country
By the A.M. Costa Rica staff
Authorities of the Ministry of Finance and the Chamber of Fuel Dealers announced Thursday that fuel prices will remain the same throughout the country.
"The Chamber of Fuel Dealers, the Ministry of Finance and the government in general have guaranteed that fuel prices are the same throughout the country," said Rodrigo Chaves, minister of Finance. "
The meeting was the initiative of the representatives of the chamber due to concern about the collection of the value-added tax, known as IVA in Spanish, which is going to be applied to the fuel retailers. Also of concern was the impact this tax would have on the service stations and on the final price that consumers had to pay, the chamber said.
José Miguel-Masís, the representative of the Chamber, confirmed that this situation had generated concern and uncertainty.
"We have reached an agreement in which Hacienda will redefine the concepts that it has been using to clarify to the consumer that there will not be any variation in prices by zones," said Masís.
According to the chamber, there is a pending operational work between the Ministry of Finance, it's General Directorate of Taxation Office and the chamber to redefine some other aspects of fuel prices.
According to the Ministry of Finance, fuels are not subject to IVA tax. This exception applies to regular gasoline, super gasoline, ECO95 gasoline, diesel, asphalt, asphalt emulsion, bunker, LPG, Jet fuel A1, kerosene, heavy diesel (diesel), heavy naphtha and light naphtha.
However, fuel transportation is a service taxed with IVA. This is because the Law on Strengthening Public Finance did not establish an exemption for this type of transportation.
That means the fuel prices may vary geographically depending on the tax that must be paid for the cost of its transportation. This is especially true in areas where the cost of transportation of fuel is more expensive.
According to the fuel price table published by the Costa Rican Petroleum Refinery, RECOPE, the current price of super gasoline is about $1.11 per litter. The price of gasoline plus is about $1.07 per litter. And the cost of diesel is about 0.96 U.S cents per litter.
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