La Jornada: Diesel will drop to $27 after a gas station pact with Claudia Sheinbaum

After several public presidential warnings that they should lower the price of diesel, the federal government and gas stations reached an agreement to reduce the cost of that fuel to 27 pesos per liter starting next week. The pact will be in force for six months, so it will last until October, business leaders reported.

In a video recorded in the Treasury Room of the National Palace, accompanied by the secretaries of the Treasury, Energy and National Defense, as well as the representatives of the gas station concessionaires, President Claudia Sheinbaum announced that they had reached a “great agreement” so that starting next Monday a liter of diesel costs 27 pesos, since these days it will be adjusted “little by little.”

He pointed out that to achieve this, there was the collaboration of the banking sector and gasoline voucher issuers, who agreed to reduce the cost of commissions for payment by card and vouchers. “We all walk through Mexico together. Thank you very much for this great agreement,” added Sheinbaum. The day before, at the presidential conference, the Ministry of Finance reported the aforementioned temporary reduction of bank commissions for electronic payments at fuel stations.

Upon leaving the National Palace, Enrique Félix Robelo, president of Onexpo, estimated that the government could use its fiscal mechanisms to support this price reduction; That is, the government has the possibility of lowering the special tax for products and services.

Mauricio González, from Valores ABC, specified that the agreement was reached for the next six months, but explained that they will meet with the President periodically to evaluate the situation. He explained that it is more difficult to reduce the price of diesel because it takes up more space for storage at stations, in addition to being transported longer distances.

In the morning, the head of the federal Executive announced that the measures to contain inflation will go beyond reducing the price of diesel, as agreements will be sought with producers and marketers of perishable products, such as tomatoes, with the purpose of making them more accessible to consumers.

He explained that in these cases other factors are involved, but it is necessary to contain inflation through other mechanisms, because before it was sought to contain inflationary pressures simply by having the Bank of Mexico increase interest rates, but this measure has other macroeconomic effects.