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Argentina says will not allow fuel price hikes

BUENOS AIRES: Argentina will not allow domestic gasoline prices to rise, President Nestor Kirchner said after oil companies in the country suggested it was time to end a price freeze due to soaring global oil prices.

Kirchner said late on Friday that the government “will not accept under any circumstance” a hike in gasoline prices, according to the state news agency Telam.

Since August 2004, the government has imposed taxes of up to 45 percent on Argentine oil exports to ensure more of the fuel remains in the country at lower prices.

Until May last year the government and companies had agreed to fix gasoline prices but that accord fell apart when international prices spiralled.

Earlier this year, the Argentine unit of Royal Dutch Shell Plc raised retail gasoline prices and Kirchner responded by calling for a nationwide boycott of the company. Shell’s sales plummeted as a result and it partly rolled back the increase. reuters

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