Petrol Prices In Portugal Higher Than The EU Average In Second Quarter of 2023

The national average selling price (ASP) of petrol in Portugal was higher than that registered in the EU during the second quarter of 2023.

According to the bulletin on fuels, published by ERSE this Thursday, July 27, between April and June, Portugal ranks 11th among countries with the highest prices for 95 petrol in the EU.

Including taxes, the PMV in Portugal for 95 stood at €1.673/litre, higher than the €1.626/litre average of the European Union and the €1.608 recorded in Spain. Without taking taxes into account, Portugal had a PMV of 2.9 cents per litre less than Spain.

According to ERSE, ‘Portugal had a higher tax burden (51 per cent) in the context of the Iberian Peninsula, which is why the Portuguese PMV was around 6.5 cents/litre higher than that of Spain’.

The weight of taxes represented 47 per cent of GDP in Spain and 50 per cent of GDP in the EU-27. In the EU, the pre-tax PMV for petrol ‘did not change significantly’ between the year’s first two quarters.

Diesel was cheaper than the EU average

With regard to diesel, ‘the national PMV was below the EU-27 average values, giving Portugal the 12th place of the lowest prices’, noted the energy regulator.

In the second quarter, the PMV for diesel in Portugal was €1.463/litre, lower than the €1.514 in the EU, but higher than the €1.455 recorded in Spain.

‘The tax burden in Portugal (46 per cent) was higher than in Spain (43 per cent), making the PMV charged in Portugal 0.8 cents/litre higher than in Spain’, said ERSE. It added that: ‘without taxes, the national average price is 3.4 cents/litre lower than in the neighbouring country’.

When excluding the weight of taxes, in the EU as a whole, Portugal ranked 11th among countries with the cheapest diesel. As a whole, in the EU, the pre-tax PMV for diesel decreased by 13.4 cents/litre from the first to the second quarter of 2023.

Liquefied petroleum gas for cars (Auto LPG) was higher than in the EU

Finally, with regard to liquefied petroleum gas for cars (Auto LPG), the national PMV of 0.7927/litre was lower than the 0.952/litre charged in Spain. It was higher than those charged in the EU, where the average was 0.772/litre.

In this product, the tax burden represented 40 per cent of the final price in Portugal, 32 per cent in the EU-27, and 21 per cent in Spain, as reported by sicnoticias.pt.