The soaring prices of diesel fuel affect the farmers and a part of them risk experiencing default, the executive director of the National Farmers Federation Vasile Myrzenko said in a public debate staged by the Institute for Development and Social Initiatives “Viitorul”, IPN reports.

Earlier, the costs incurred by farmers amounted to 6,000-7,000 lei. Currently, only the cost for diesel fuel totals 3,000 lei. “We will work at a loss. We could possibly be unable to work. Some of the suppliers do not offer anything if payments are not made in advance. (...) Besides the large fuel costs, we also incur large costs for fertilizers and this also affects us,” explained Vasile Myrzenko.

A solution proposed by the farmers is to subsidize the excise duties on diesel fuel and VAT. “If a liter of diesel fuel is over 25 lei and the price can yet rise to 30 lei, the value added tax will be 6 lei, while the excise duty about 2.7 lei a liter. This means about 8 lei a liter. If these intentions are implemented, we will perform spring field work with diesel fuel bought for about 20 lei/liter. This is also a high price for us,” said the executive director of the National Farmers Federation.

An unprecedented situation was witnessed on Moldova’s fuel market last week. The wholesale price of diesel fuel was by 3-4 lei (29 lei/liter) higher than the retail price. Experts invoked a cartel agreement at three oil companies.

During two weeks, the fuel prices have increased continuously and hit new record highs daily. For March 16, the price ceiling for diesel fuel set by the National Agency for Energy Regulation is 26.91 lei/liter, while for gasoline is 27.72 lei/liter.