Suttyhudeo Tengur, President of APEC: "Rising Fuel Prices is Unjustified"

> How do you welcome the recent increase in prices of petroleum products. Do you think it is justified? 
The price of Brent crude on the international market has been falling for months. At the end of February, for example, the price was $ 113 a barrel. In addition, the tax consumer paid for the Hedging has been removed. So this 5% increase is totally unjustified. Moreover, all the trend is downward for petroleum products. So, this price increase comes way to reconcile these two factors. 

> In your opinion would there must have been a decline? 
In a pinch, the price should remain unchanged. 

> What are the implications? 
The cost of transportation will increase. By this I do not mean the price of bus ticket, but the cost of transporting goods, for example. This will have an impact on our cost of production. Our exports are also less competitive. Which could then have an impact on unemployment too. This will have an impact on our inflation rate. 

> Do you think we should remove some fuel taxes? 
For some time already, I said that Mauritius is a country where there are a lot of taxes on petroleum products. It should be removed. 

> Should I change the formula of pricing of petroleum products? 
Any formula, with time, be changed. I think the government should not see the issue of gas prices a financial point of view. For example, there is a Road Tax in the price structure of petroleum products and consumers pay for the creation of roads. We can say that it penalizes doubling consumers. 

> Was it imported vegetables? 
With import, we found an artificial increase in the price of vegetables. Shooting plants, for example, have not been affected as we tend to believe. Other vegetables, for their part, are better. So this was an opportunity import merchants to raise prices. In two to three weeks, everything should return to normal. 

> What is your observation on the purchasing power of Mauritians? 
Purchasing power is experiencing a steady decline. The consumer must deal with both local and international factors. In addition, there is the indirect effect of depreciation of the rupee, which also has adverse effects on the purchasing power.