PM Ciuca: Government close to finishing support measures in Energy sector

The Government is close to finishing measures for protecting the population and the economy from the price evolution of electricity and gas, following that they will be announced on Thursday, after a new meeting of the inter-ministerial committee for energy, Prime Minister Nicolae Ciuca said on Wednesday, before the beginning of the gov't sitting."We are close to finishing the package of measures at the level of the Government in order to continue actions for protecting the population and the economy from the price evolution for electricity and gas. We carried out tests at the Ministry of Energy, Finance, Environment, Ministry of Labor, Ministry of Entrepreneurship and Tourism, and of course meetings and discussions within the inter-ministerial committee. We also had meetings within the ruling coalition. The measures being mostly finalised, tomorrow we will carry out a new meeting during the inter-institutional committee, after which we will communicate these measures, which, again, will ensure a set of mechanisms, so that protecting the population and the economy to be done for a longer period of time," Nicolae Ciuca declared.    Romania's governing coalition has agreed in principle to halve the excise duty levied on fuels for a period of three months in an attempt to mitigate the impact of accelerating inflation, finance minister Adrian Caciu said.   "We proposed to the coalition leaders a temporary solution to decrease the fuel excise by 50%, which would translate into a price cut of at least 1 leu ($0.23/0.20 euro) per litre. The proposal was validated at today's meeting, so in the near future we will have discussions with the European Commission and major fuel companies to cut fuel prices to a level that is bearable for all consumers - individuals or companies," finance minister Adrian Caciu said in a social media post on Tuesday.   The proposed cut in fuel excise duty is just one of the decisions that will form a major package of solutions aimed at reducing energy bills and calming the inflationary trend that started at the beginning of this year, Caciu added.   The minister did not elaborate on the specific price cuts for each type of fuel or when the cut would come into effect.   Currently, Euro95 petrol sells at 1.407 euro per litre at the pump in Romania, while the price of diesel is 1.411 euro per litre, according to international freight exchange Cargopedia.net.   The fuel excise duty is currently set at 1,892 lei ($434/382 euro) for 1,000 litres of unleaded petrol and 1,734 lei for 1,000 litres of diesel, according to finance ministry data. Romania's consumer prices rose by 8.35% year-on-year in January, compared to an annual increase of 8.19% in December, the national statistical office, INS, said earlier this month. On February 11, Romania's central bank raised its inflation forecast for 2022 to 9.6% from 5.9% predicted in November, way above the upper end of its target band of 1.5-3.5%, due to a fast rise in energy prices.