Due to the increase reported in the last week, the Ministry of Economy and Finance (MEF) proposed extending the permanence of liquefied petroleum gas (LPG) for domestic use in the Fuel Price Stabilization Fund (FEPC). Currently, the measure is in force until June.
Minister José Arista revealed that the amount owed by the State to LPG suppliers exceeds S/1,000 million, so they will take the renewal with a pinch of salt in times of low collection.
“We have received the comments and we are looking at how to include LPG in the FEPC again. We have a debt of S / 1,000 million and that is why we want to be quite cautious,” he said for RPP Noticias.
The FEPC was created in 2004 to prevent fuel volatility from hitting homes. It operates with a range of maximum and minimum prices: when prices are below the lower line, the consumer pays the minimum limit and the difference goes to the fund administered by the State. When the price breaks the upper line, the user only pays the maximum limit and the rest is paid with the resources in the fund.
Unstable bottom
Erick García, hydrocarbons expert, explains that these measures will not have any effect in the short term, and that rather the mechanism must be replaced, since in practice “it represents a subsidy.”
He explains that this revolving fund has been affected because, since its creation, it has compensated more than what was contributed: S/15,000 million compared to S/3,000 million in income when prices fell.
In his opinion, the fund should be activated only when international prices reach previously set peaks, in addition to promoting the targeted discount vouchers for the purchase of balls provided by the FISE program.
“And we must also continue to expand natural gas (another type of energy) in Lima and Callao, which concentrates 50% of the national demand for LPG that you do not have, since you import 33%,” García highlighted.
The key
Climbing. The Peruvian Liquefied Gas Society (SPGL) reported that the price of LPG has increased S/7 since the beginning of the year. One of the factors is global price instability.
Source: Larepublica
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