Colombian freight transporters were protesting in Bogota and other cities on Friday against the increase in diesel prices announced by the government a week ago after being frozen for more than four years.
The Ministry of Finance is working on how to increase the price of diesel in an attempt to close the gap in public finances that it estimates at more than 242 million dollars annually.
Finance Minister Ricardo Bonilla has explained that in order to close the gap between the national and international price, the final increase in diesel must be 1.5 dollars per gallon and that to reach that price, three or four increases must be made, which could be semi-annual starting at the end of the year.
Gustavo Petro’s government has set out to close the deficit in public finances that has been created over the years in the Fuel Price Stabilization Fund (Fepc) with which the government covered the difference between the value of fuels in the country and international oil prices. First, the price of gasoline increased and now it will do so with diesel.
The transport union and the government held meetings for several months without reaching an agreement on the value of the increase, so the Ministry of Finance announced that there would be a rise after the failure in the negotiation.
“After 10 months of negotiations, they tell us that they are going to increase the total (price) by 63%. It is definitely not viable in Colombia to increase that amount of the main input without the sector going bankrupt,” he told The Associated Press Juan Carlos Bobadilla, general secretary of the Colombian Truck Drivers Association.
Bobadilla said that the increase in diesel prices will also increase operating costs, the price of passenger transport tickets and even the cost of food, affecting the final consumer. “Everything served to Colombians on the table will be very expensive, and poverty will increase,” he said.
Cargo transporters were making long caravans in Bogotá and other capital cities such as Santa Marta, Bucaramanga, Cali and Medellín. The association estimates that the increase in diesel prices will affect 600,000 vehicles across the country, including agricultural machinery.
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