New oil importers active

One of the pre-election promises of the Georgian Dream coalition was that they would try to decrease the fuel price. GD leaders highlighted that fuel prices were artificially kept too high and if this kind of monopoly is to be defeated, prices would be decreased. There were only a few companies importing fuel into Georgia; the recent strategy of the Georgian government is to diversify fuel importers. The analysts have calculated that the prices of the petrol and diesel fuel could be less than two Georgian laris. Currently, not a single brand of petrol or diesel is less then two laris. It looks as if there is a confrontation between the old players on the field, supported by the former government, and the new ones – whom the new ruling team has given the right to import petrol and diesel to Georgia. These companies mainly import fuel form Europe, because importation form Azerbaijan is monopolized by SOCAR. This is why the new importers have started selling their products cheaper. However, they cannot yet influence the overall prices in the market.