欧美文化:Slovenian government limits gasoline prices to curb price hikes

LJUBLJANA, March 14 (Xinhua) -- The Slovenian government set the maximum retail price of gasoline from Tuesday in order to curb large price hikes, the government said on its website on Monday.

The maximum price of 95-octane gasoline was set at 1.503 euros(about 1.6491 U.S. dollars) per liter and that of diesel at 1.541 euros (about 1.6908 U.S. dollars) per liter. The set prices will be valid for 30 days. The set maximum prices are by 4 to 8 percent lower than those on Monday. Until now the prices were set freely by fuel retailers.

"The decree was taken due to disturbances on the gasoline market and high oscillation of prices which were not seasonal," the government said in a statement.

Gasoline prices in Slovenia jumped significantly over the past weeks amid a hike of global fuel prices. However, since prices in Italy are even higher, large queues have been forming at gasoline stations near the border with Italy over the past days as many Italians have decided to buy gasoline in Slovenia.

Slovenians have experienced high inflation over the past year as prices soared by 6.9 percent year-on-year in February, mainly on account of an increase of global energy prices. The Bank of Slovenia said in its report last week that "the risks of a longer period of (high) inflation are strengthening ... as high energy prices increasingly pass into rises of prices of food, other goods and services."