Over 10% rise in price of fuel in Ukraine in less than one month is linked to a lack of supply of Ukrainian-made fuel on the market, according to the well-known banker Serhiy Tihipko, who has announced his plans to run for the presidency, his press service has reported.
He said that fuel produced by Ukrainian oil refineries is more competitive in light of price hikes on the international market and the strengthening of the dollar exchange rate to the hryvnia, which affects the price growth on imported fuel.
Tihipko said that Ukrainian refineries using old equipment, which does not provide for enough purification of oil, failed to fill the market with cheap fuel. He said that the only reason for skyrocketing prices of fuel in Ukraine is the absence of authorities' political power to conduct a deep upgrade of the sector and set control over own oil extraction.
He also said that total checks of filing stations' profitability, with the help of which power reacts on the rise in fuel prices, are slightly efficient.
Tihipko said that the stabilization of the hryvnia exchange rate by the National Bank of Ukraine (NBU) and sales of Ukrainian-made fuel, which production cost is 5-7 times less than that of imported fuel, would help to even the situation on the fuel market.
The politician said that the situation with supplies of fuel to farmers claims attention. Tihipko said that the price of diesel and low-octane fuel is growing. If at the start of the harvesting campaign, the price of diesel fuel was UAH 4.87 per liter, at present it reached UAH 5.75 per liter.
The politician said that fuel interventions from the state reserve should be done to cut the production cost of this year harvest. The state should become a serious player on the market and should buy grain at a price, which is no lower than the average production cost in the regions plus at least 5%, he said.
