The bill concerning subsidies for gas was drafted by the Government and is to be approved by the end of July, said PAS MP Radu Marian. According to him, this year subsidies will be paid only to persons with low incomes. The energy vulnerability degree will be set depending on the incomes of the family and the number of family members. At the same time, the extraparliamentary opposition said that a new rise in the gas rate will automatically impact food prices as the business entities do not benefit from state subsidies, IPN reports.
If the gas rate is raised to 23.57 lei per cubic meter of gas with VAT included, the citizens and the state budget will suffer a new blow. Economic expert Veaceslav Ioniță said that if the Government is unable to identity foreign funds, the subsidization for gas will be a burden for the current government.
“A choice is to be made between a bad decision and a very bad decision. If we do not increase the gas rate, debts will accumulate. If we increase the rate, this will be 26 lei. Last year, the gas grew more expensive, but firewood remained at the price of 800-1,000 lei per 0.8 m3. This year the price of firewood rose to 3,000 lei. However, heating with firewood is more advantageous than with gas. Furthermore, this year we have the largest budget deficit, of 20 billion lei. This means that we need to borrow money. During the first five months, we managed to borrow 2 billion lei. 18 billion lei is yet to be borrowed for the rest seven months. This means that the Government’s possibilities of offering assistance will be limited,” Veaceslav Ioniță stated in the talk show “Ghețu Asks” on TV8 channel.
Even if the Government partially compensates the gas rate for socially deprived families, the prices of food products will explode again, as representatives of the parliamentary opposition anticipate.
“What shall we do with the business entities if the gas rate is raised again? The prices of products have increased already. The higher gas rate will immediately impact food prices,” said the representative of the Party “Dignity and Truth Platform” Liviu Vovc.
For their part, representatives of the government expressed their optimism about the Government’s possibilities of compensating some of the categories of population for the higher gas rates. They said the citizens who use wood for heating will also benefit from state support.
“We need to see the NAER’s decision concerning the new rate. We are preparing a subsidization mechanism for winter. The Government published the given bill. There will be subsidized six categories of households, depending on the energy vulnerability level. By the end of July, this will be approved and the people will know how they can benefit from aid. By the end of July, the mechanism will also be adopted by Parliament. This will be different and will be based on an application. Last winter we paid 3,500 lei in subsidies per household for the cold season. Now we will help more those who are in need,” said PAS MP Radu Marian.
Recently, Moldovagaz requested the National Agency for Energy Regulation to increase the natural gas rate by 45%, invoking the increase in the purchase price of gas. Currently, the end users pay 18.6 lei per cubic meter of gas with VAT included.
