KEY POINTS:
The Government should delay imposing planned fuel taxes to ease the pain of surging fuel prices, the Road Transport Forum says.
The suggestion comes after the latest fuel price hikes by the major oil companies yesterday saw 91 octane petrol increase from $1.86 a litre to $1.89, and diesel going up 5 cents from $1.52 to $1.57.
Forum chief executive Tony Friedlander said the Government should ease the impact of soaring petrol and diesel prices by putting off the raft of new taxes and costs it intended imposing on fuel over the next year.
He said in that period fuel costs could go up by as much as 40 cents per litre on top of the record prices being paid today, because of the Government's biofuel policy, emissions trading scheme and regional fuel taxes.
" New Zealanders are already struggling to cope with the effects of record fuel prices," Mr Friedlander said.
"It's not just when they fill up that they feel the pain. Higher fuel prices mean higher transport costs and that pushes up the cost of goods.
"That's a large part of the reason why people are paying a lot more every time they go to the supermarket. Higher prices are feeding inflation, which means the Reserve Bank is keeping interest rates up. It's a triple whammy."
Unless the Government delayed the introduction of its policies things would get a lot worse, and they should be put on hold until the international fuel market settled down, he said.
"People need a breathing space to adjust to higher prices. This is a practical way for Government to acknowledge a lot of people are facing hard times and give them some relief."
Fuel company Gull did not raise prices along with the other companies yesterday, electing to hold prices and offering a 5 cent per litre discount until 9am tomorrow.
- NZPA
