Gasoline and Diesel: Kazakhstan Considers Lifting Fuel Price Controls

The Kazakh Ministry of Energy is exploring the removal of price caps on gasoline and diesel fuel, Orda.kz reports.

This potential shift aims to address fuel shortages and enable industry modernization.

Kazakhstan currently maintains some of the region's lowest fuel prices.

AI-92 gasoline costs 205 tenge per liter in Kazakhstan, compared to 288 tenge in Russia, 385 tenge in Kyrgyzstan, and 489 tenge in Uzbekistan.

Diesel fuel shows similar disparities, with Kazakhstan at 295 tenge per liter while neighboring countries range from 355 to 528 tenge.

Fuel prices in Kazakhstan remain among the lowest in the world, which creates a price gap with neighboring countries. This provokes a deficit, hinders the modernization of the industry and facilitates the illegal export of fuel, the Ministry of Energy announced.

The proposed changes seek to balance supply and demand, eliminate shortages, attract long-term investment, and create new jobs.

The Ministry emphasizes a gradual implementation approach with social support measures in place.

The plan includes guaranteeing agricultural producers access to affordable diesel fuel through transparent schemes while maintaining support for citizens.

The proposal is currently under discussion as part of a draft resolution on the Open NPA portal.

Original Author: Artem Volkov