The Government of Panama will freeze the price of a gallon of fuel for three months for the transport sector at $3.95, representatives of this union said Tuesday after a long meeting held at a dialogue table.
The stabilization or freezing of the price of fuel will benefit collective public transport, taxis, schoolchildren and the special tourism service, a measure for which carriers have been pressing through protests, pickets and blockades of public roads demanding its approval. .
The agreement between the Government authorities and representatives of three transport associations and one of users, with the mediation of the Panamanian Ombudsman, establishes "grant a stabilization to the cost of fuel (gasoline and diesel)" for an amount of 3.95 dollars per gallon (3.7 liters).
The measure seeks to ensure that public transport maintains the same ticket price paid by users throughout the country, according to carrier spokespersons, who stressed that this is a "economic relief" for the industry.
They announced that the fuel price freeze will be ratified through a resolution in the Cabinet Council (Ministers) next Thursday.
"Perhaps this was not what the bases (carriers) wanted, but we know the situation in the country" and gasoline, said Leonardo Ortega of the National Chamber of Transportation (Canatra), who stressed that the Government "He made us that proposal and we agreed on it".
In Panama, gasoline and diesel, for the first time in almost a decade, are sold above one dollar per liter, a situation attributed to the international situation resulting from the Russian invasion of Ukraine.
Since last November, the President’s Executive, Laurentino Cortizo, has approved subsidies for 19 million dollars to carriers to lower the cost of fuel and thereby prevent an increase in fares.
The plenary session of the National Assembly (AN, Parliament), with an official majority, approved on April 28 in the third and last debate the bill 808 that creates the Trust for the compensation, reduction and stabilization of the increase in the price of petroleum products, abandoning the idea of suspending the collection of the fuel tax, an initiative rejected by the Executive.
The norm must be signed by the Panamanian president, Laurentino Cortizo, to enter into force.
