Hedging policy good for petrol but not for diesel

While the government’s controversial fuel hedging policy this year resulted in cheaper petrol prices at the pumps, for diesel vehicle owners it backfired as they paid more than their European counterparts to fill up their tank.
An analysis of fuel prices over the year, carried out by Times of Malta on the basis of official data released by the European Commission, revealed that on average the price of petrol in Malta was 4c per litre below that of the EU, but in the case of diesel it was 4c higher.
While the average price paid by Maltese motorists for petrol in 2015 was €1.36 per litre, in the EU it was €1.40. In the case of diesel, however, the average price in Malta was €1.274 when compared to €1.236 in the EU.
Apart from this conclusion, the most significant – if not worrying – trend was the fact that since the end of summer, fuel prices in Malta have been consistently hovering above the EU average.

Though the cost of petrol and diesel will go down as from tomorrow, this will not be enough to bring them back in line with latest EU average prices, especially in the case of diesel. The decline in the rest of Europe, which has been going on for months, has put the decision to...