Gasoline in Russia can become cheaper, like the dollar

Marcel Salikhov, Director of the Center for Economic Expertise at the Higher School of Economics, commented to Nezavisimaya Gazeta on a possible reduction in domestic gasoline prices in Russia.

“After the imposition of the embargo, downward pressure on domestic prices will increase due to the growing attractiveness of the domestic market in the face of export restrictions. However, the pass-through effect on retail prices is limited. This is hindered by two factors - a high share of fixed taxes in the price (primarily excises), as well as a damper mechanism, - Marcel Salikhov told. - There is already a significant gap between export parity prices and domestic prices. The netback price is already weakly linked to domestic prices (for example, gasoline currently exceeds 100,000 rubles per ton). Prices in the domestic market are significantly lower than world prices. I do not think that the task now is to raise domestic prices to world levels.”