Taxes might be on the way up but some fuel prices are on the way down. Government announced that as of yesterday there was an across the board decrease in the price of a 100-pound cylinder of butane by $3. The new controlled prices are $80 in Belize City and Corozal; $82 in Belmopan and Dangriga; $81 in Orange Walk; $83 in Punta Gorda; $85 in San Ignacio; and $85 in Benque. We note those are the controlled prices and the actual price normally includes delivery. For example in Belize City the new retail price is actually $82 down from $85. And while the price drop was effective yesterday, when we placed a call to the nation's largest retailer of butane, Belize Western Energy Limited, today they told us they are unaware of the decrease.
And it didn't make the news or announced by government but today the price of diesel and kerosene also fell. Diesel dipped 0.14 cents from $5.97 to $5.83 while kerosene went down 0.13 cents from $5.29 to $5.16. These long awaited decreases in the controlled price come after the government has been making a revenue windfall over the last two months by keeping the pump price fixed while the acquisition price decreased.
