Fuel prices in Georgia have dropped by 5-8 tetri. The Union of Oil Products Importers expects prices may keep on plummeting in the next days. The Union also notes that no special price fluctuations have been recorded in Georgia for 5 months and the prices have been quite stable.
Economist Nika Shengelia connects a drop in fuel prices with the pre-election period. In the conversation with the radio station "Commersant", he does not rule out that price cuts were with is requested by the government as price hikes in the pre-election period are not hailed. In Shengelia’s words, oil price will increase and in 2 weeks it will cost up to 85 dollars per barrel causing an increase in fuel prices in the country after the elections.
"In Georgia cartel controls the price of fuel and their appetite for profit. Therefore, a 5-8 tetri decline is, probably, the government’s pre-election request. Experts say oil prices started falling but this is not true. The mass media reports that prices will go down to 60 dollars but this will not happen. We predict oil prices will rise after the election. In the pre-election period the government don’t want to raise prices, otherwise, a barrel of oil would havee been 79 dollars. It is higher than on September 20. We lower oil price forecasts to around $85. Price hikes will be recorded during these 2 weeks, therefore, after the elections, importers will rise fuel price again,'' Nika Shengelia stresses.
