The head of government of Antigua and Barbuda, Prime Minister Gaston Browne, has issued a stark public warning that local consumers may be forced to shoulder additional increases in gasoline and diesel prices if international crude oil costs keep moving on an upward trajectory. Speaking during an appearance on the popular Browne and Browne Show broadcast on Pointe FM, the prime minister laid out that the national administration has already hit the ceiling of its fiscal capacity to subsidize fuel costs. To date, the government has spent more than 40 million Eastern Caribbean dollars and forgone massive amounts of revenue to hold fuel prices at an artificially low level for domestic consumers.
“If these global prices keep climbing, we simply do not have the room to absorb any more additional costs,” Browne told listeners. “There is no alternative for us other than to pass along further increases to consumers of petroleum products.”
Browne’s public warning comes just after the government implemented a two Eastern Caribbean dollar per gallon increase for both gasoline and diesel, bringing an end to months of widespread government subsidies that buffered local consumers from skyrocketing international oil costs. According to the prime minister, the most recent price adjustment did not expand the government’s profit margin at all. Instead, the change was strictly designed to cover growing import expenses and stop the existing subsidy burden from ballooning even further out of the government’s control.
Data cited by Browne shows that benchmark Brent crude prices jumped roughly 21% in the week before his announcement, and have surged more than 50% over the past 12 months. He pinned the steep, sustained rise on widespread global geopolitical instability, most notably the ongoing conflict connected to Iran. Browne explained that his administration had originally projected international oil prices would stabilize after a diplomatic agreement was reached between the United States and Iran, but the conflict has instead dragged on longer than expected, keeping crude costs elevated.
Even with the recent price adjustment, the prime minister emphasized that fuel prices across Antigua and Barbuda still rank among the lowest in the entire Caribbean region. In closing, Browne called on motorists across the country to practice fuel conservation and use the resource responsibly, reminding the public that the government’s financial ability to insulate domestic consumers from volatile shifts in the global oil market is severely limited.