Gasoline Prices Are Lower Than They Should Be: Gegham Gevorgyan

Gasoline prices in Armenia are lower than they should be. This was stated today, on May 30, by Gegham Gevorgyan, the chairman of the State Commission for the Protection of Economic Competition, during a joint meeting of the National Assembly committees, in response to a question from Gegham Nazaryan, a member of the 'Armenia' faction, regarding the rise in gasoline prices.

“Of course, we know that gasoline prices have increased, but we see another issue here. We believe that the gasoline sale prices currently existing in Armenia are, in our view, lower than they should be,” Gevorgyan said.

According to him, the commission is investigating the import and sale prices of the four main market operators. Gevorgyan announced that they have data on production costs, which they are ready to present to the members of parliament in a closed session. “Moreover, I can say that this price raises economic doubts. But not in the sense of being high, but rather low,” Gevorgyan noted, comparing it to the fact that today in Georgian gas stations, a liter of regular gasoline costs 364-365 drams. Before the last price hike, the sale price of the same type of gasoline in Armenia ranged between 330-370 drams.

“In our opinion, dumping causes much greater harm than price increases. We will be monitoring this very closely. It will need to be clarified for us how gasoline in Armenia is sold for 350 drams per liter,” stated the chairman of the commission.

Regarding the liquid gas market, where a price increase of several tens of drams has also been recorded recently, Gevorgyan observed that the increase is consistent with changes in invoice prices. Additionally, according to the commission's data, the liquid gas market is competitive, with over 80 companies importing liquid gas into Armenia, and none of them have more than 13 percent market concentration.