2023-07-29 06:38:24
Hugues de Tournemire and Geoffrey Branger, edited by Alexandre Dalifard / Photo credit: JUSTINE BONNERY / HANS LUCAS / HANS LUCAS VIA AFP
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9:42 p.m., July 29, 2023
For many, holidays are also a question of money. Some regulate their expenses to the millimeter. But this year, it’s even more complicated than usual. Of course, there is inflation, which is particularly violent in food products, with an increase of 14% over one year. But there is also the price of trains, accommodation and tolls, all more expensive than last year. And the icing on the cake is that gasoline prices go up the day before the famous holiday crossover.
“An unfortunate set of circumstances”
This is THE bad news of the week for vacationers. A new increase which confirms the upward trend of the last three weeks, since the start of the school holidays. Inflation therefore pursues the French even in the gas stations. A trend that Francis Pousse, president “fuel distributors” at the Mobilians union, explains by a still unfavorable international context. “The more the barrel, the more the raw material, the more it increases in fine at the pump. And that’s what we see almost everywhere with differences of course in taxes depending on the country, but that’s what we see everywhere! And then we have an economy that is picking up once more following having been a bit sluggish in recent months. It’s an unfortunate combination of circumstances at the time of the holidays of course”, he underlines at the microphone of Europe 1.
Whether they are departing or returning, motorists will suffer this increase in gasoline prices on average by 5 cents per litre. The prize goes to diesel which, with an average of 1.763 euros, is back to its highest level since last May. Price levels that might cause misunderstanding among holidaymakers when INSEE has just announced a drop in inflation for the month of July.
Tax and VAT
Which is quite intuitive, but as often in economics, everything is a question of supply and demand. According to Fabrice Godefroy, mobility expert for the association 40 million motorists, prices at the pump are increasing firstly because a barrel of Brent is more expensive. This is how we produce our fuels, but also because of the holidays. “It’s a market that has been very volatile since the geopolitical problems that we are experiencing. As we are in a holiday period, that can obviously have an impact because there is inevitably more fuel consumption and inevitably , there is more demand”, explains Fabrice Godefroy at the microphone of Europe 1.
According to him, no additional margin to increase the profits of fuel dispensers. But a structural problem in France which means that users pay a high price for their fill-ups. “In France, the problem is that we have around 60% fuel tax. We have a 20% VAT, it becomes unbearable, we would like to have a 5.5% VAT which would allow us to not to add to all this increase in the price of the barrel taxes which have become unbearable for motorists.
As you will have understood, this weekend, fuel will cost you dearly. And according to professionals in the sector, this trend might well continue in the coming weeks, perhaps even until the end of the summer.
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