Already facing hardships from the last petroleum price increase, secretary of the Petroleum Dealers Association Saleema Sattar said petroleum retailers may have no choice but to close down their businesses or fire employees in the coming months.
In a telephone interview after Finance Minister Colm Imbert made his presentation, Sattar said the incremental removal of subsidy and increased price of diesel did not provide any economic gains for retailers or wholesalers of petroleum.
She said retailers have been getting a fixed 12 cents per litre of fuel since November 2005, so even though fuel prices went up, there was no profit to be made.
Wholesalers get 14.5 cents per litre, Sattar said.
“Now that diesel price has gone up, people will close up their businesses. I run a service station and after I pay for my fuel, pay taxes and rental to NP and pay my employees, I am left with nothing. It is really a desperate situation,” Sattar said.
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