EspañolThe Energy and Energy Regulatory Commission and Petróleos Mexicanos (Pemex) announced it will be deregulating gas in Mexico in March 2017, a process that will cause gas prices to rise.

A percentage for how much it will increase has not yet been announced, but estimates predict between 15 and 22 percent. The Citibank Center for Economic Studies estimated that the increase will be 22 percent while the gas station operators organized in the Onexpo (National Organization of Oil Exporters) predict that the increase will be 15 percent.

“We’re in the process of defining the numbers,” General Director of Pemex Jose Antonio González Anaya said. “But I think that the important thing is to have clear that things cost what they cost, and the price of oil rose, yes, but it also increased in Norway, a country that is a much more surplus oil producer, much bigger, but it exports much more than Mexico and the price of gas there is more than two and a half times that of Mexico,” he said.

“When I came to Pemex the price of the oil of the Mexican mix was US $18.90; today it is US $45, which benefits Pemex and the country, but at the same time that makes the price of gasoline go up. The exchange rate was moved so that we are going to have to adjust. We are in the process of looking into it,” González Anaya said.

Mexican lawmakers have asked the federal government to allow the deregulation of fuels to be postponed in Mexico so that the increase does not affect consumers to a greater extent.

Officials said the measure will put Mexican families in a difficult situation, as the increase in fuel will be reflected in products and services.

Deputy of the Citizens’ Movement Carlos Lomeli said deregulation will affect the most disadvantaged sectors of Mexico because they are the ones who find it harder to access products when they increase in value.

Alejandro Ojeda of the Democratic Revolution Party (PRD) called the change “disguised privatization.”

Source: El Universal