Regional · Cost of Living
St Lucia Holds Fuel Prices Steady, Says It Has Given Up EC$44.9M Since April
The Government of Saint Lucia will keep retail fuel prices unchanged for another three weeks even as global oil prices climb, a decision Prime Minister Philip J. Pierre says has cost the treasury EC$44.9 million in forgone revenue and subsidies since April.
Speaking at Monday’s Pre-Cabinet Press Briefing, Pierre described the position as “not good news,” pointing to instability in the global oil market as the driver of higher fuel costs. He said his administration had chosen to absorb the impact rather than pass it on to consumers at the pump.
The EC$44.9 million figure comes from two sources. EC$39.2 million is reduced excise tax revenue on gasoline, and EC$5.7 million is money spent subsidising cooking gas. Those two add to the EC$44.9 million total. Pierre presented the combined sum as a fall in the government’s revenue projections, although the cooking gas portion is spending the state absorbs rather than revenue it failed to collect.
EC$44.9 million forgone since April: EC$39.2 million in gasoline excise, EC$5.7 million in cooking gas subsidy.
Pierre said swings in the international market do not reach Saint Lucian pumps immediately, citing a lag between global trading sessions and local pricing. Even after crude moved above US$100 a barrel, he said, it takes time for that change to filter through to consumers.
Retail prices therefore remain where they have sat through the current cycle. Gasoline and diesel stay at EC$16.75 per imperial gallon, or EC$3.68 per litre, while kerosene holds at EC$10.41 per gallon. Cooking gas is unchanged, with the 20-pound cylinder at EC$34.00 and the 22-pound at EC$38.00. Under the island’s modified fuel price pass-through mechanism, prices are reviewed every three weeks, with the next review due on 3 August. Pierre said the revenue loss would not stop the government from keeping its promises or supporting households.
What it means at home
The same oil shock is landing on Vincentian bills, through a different door. VINLEC’s fuel surcharge rose to EC$0.8320 per unit for July, about nine cents above June and a record high for St Vincent, even after the company applied an EC$734,959 subsidy. VINLEC says the surcharge is a pass-through that “does not profit” the utility.
Kingstown has intervened too. Prime Minister Dr Godwin Friday’s administration waived excise and customs charges on diesel used for electricity generation for three months, with VINLEC subsidies triggered above set thresholds. Yet the surcharge still climbed to a record. St Lucia’s frozen pump price and St Vincent’s tiered electricity relief are two answers to the same global problem, landing very differently at the counter.
Both islands are among the many Eastern Caribbean states absorbing the fallout of oil trading above US$100 a barrel, a level driven by geopolitical tension in oil-producing regions. Pierre said Saint Lucia would keep its prices unchanged through the next pricing cycle regardless of the cost to the treasury.
Figures are as stated by Prime Minister Pierre at the Pre-Cabinet Press Briefing and by VINLEC in its July surcharge notice. Fuel prices are next scheduled for review in Saint Lucia on 3 August.