Colombian Gasoline Prices Rise By About 400 Pesos Per Gallon
Just before the busy Colombian Easter travel season, the administration of Colombian President Gustavo Petro is reducing a fuel subsidy that has been in place to keep gasoline prices artificially low, as the country’s Fuel Price Stabilization Fund (FEPC) is becoming depleted, and the country’s famous Fiscal Rule demands a certain amount of financial prudence take priority over political expediency.
Colombia has been paying nearly 40 trillion pesos annually in politically motivated gasoline subsidies.
Fuel prices are based on dollar-denominated petroleum prices, and last year, the Colombian peso plunged against the US dollar as the country elected its first far-left president, Gustavo Petro. Global supply-chain disruptions and the Russian invasion of Ukraine have added to the inflationary pressures that Colombia faces. Throughout Colombia, gasoline prices are now seen in a range between 11,100 to 11,300 pesos per gallon (roughly $2.40-2.40 per gallon).