Fuel prices in Cyprus are set to rise further in the coming weeks, the head of the island’s petrol station owners’ association has warned, while seeking to reassure consumers that supplies remain secure for around 90 days.
Savvas Prokopiou, president of the Pan-Cyprian Association of Fuel Station Owners, told CNA that prices are expected to keep climbing unless conditions change dramatically. He said increases over the past 20 days had been stepped, with new rises recorded roughly every two to three days.
Prices could edge up by a further 5 to 6 cents, Prokopiou said, though he acknowledged that no precise forecast was possible under current conditions.
On supply security, Prokopiou said stocks stood at around 90 days’ worth and described the risk of a shortage as remote, adding that any such problem would affect many countries beyond Cyprus.
He called on the government to reintroduce fuel subsidies, as it did in 2022, when petrol was subsidised by 8.3 cents and heating diesel by 6.5 cents.
He argued the case was strengthened by the fact that rising prices automatically generate additional VAT revenue for the state — amounting to roughly 8.5 to 9 cents per 50-cent price increase, he said.
Prokopiou dismissed the prospect of a price cap as impractical, noting that a cap imposed in the past on retail prices had failed within 24 hours. Any effective cap, he said, would need to start at the wholesale level, requiring importers to temporarily reduce their profit margins.
On profiteering, he said the Consumer Protection Service was the competent authority. He said petrol station owners had not observed profiteering among their members, and that any isolated incidents had been temporary. He noted that six wholesale price increases had been passed on to station owners within a 13-day period.
Prokopiou said everyone was waiting for the war to end so that the fuel market could stabilise. If the crisis drags on and prices rise further, he warned, the knock-on effects would spread across a wide range of goods — with increases that in many cases may not easily be reversed.