OREANDA-NEWS. October 19, 2011. The excise tax on liquefied gas in the amount of 1,800 leis for a tone will be for the first time introduced in Moldova in 2012. The Finance Minister, Veaceslav Negruta, told journalists that it is a compensatory measure to keep the excise duty on sugar at 8%, a result of the compromise with the IMF.

The Finance Minister stressed that the 20-percent rise in the VAT on sugar would bring additional 101 mln leis to the budget, and to keep this tax unchanged, it is necessary to find an approximately equivalent compensatory measure. Veaceslav Negruta noted that without taking into consideration only the financial aspect, the fact that the excise tax on liquefied gas had never been introduced before was a mistake and it was unfair that owners of motor transport using diesel oil and petrol pay the excise taxes, while whose using liquefied gas – don’t pay.

The Finance Minister said this fuel may rise in price insignificantly, not more than by 0.85 leis for a liter. Besides, Veaceslav Negruta didn’t rule out that sellers might sacrifice some of their profit to keep the prices for liquefied gas for it to remain competitive in comparison with petrol and diesel oil.