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Government corruption and high oil prices

2026-03-11 15:21:00, Opinione Grigels Muçollari

Government corruption and high oil prices

Albania today has one of the most expensive fuels in Europe in relation to income. One liter of diesel represents about 7.2% of a citizen's daily income, much more than in countries in the region and several times more than in European Union countries.

The main reason is not the international market, but the government's fiscal policy. About 60% of the price of oil consists of taxes: excise duty, sales tax, carbon tax and VAT. So, most of the price that citizens pay is a direct result of government decisions.

These high taxes are not imposed for economic reasons, but because the state budget has become increasingly dependent on these revenues. They are used to finance a public spending system filled with tenders and projects that, all too often, result in inflated costs and corruption.

That is why the government does not intervene to reduce taxes on fuel, even in extraordinary international situations that increase the price of oil. Reducing the excise tax would immediately lower the price for citizens, but it would also reduce the funds that feed this system.

In this way, government corruption is not only a consequence of the economic system, but one of the reasons why fuel in Albania remains so expensive.

The solution is clear: reducing fuel taxes and transparent use of public money, so that citizens do not pay the cost of a system caught in corruption every day at the pump.

But even the greatest optimist knows that this will not happen with this government. What the opposition can and should do is propose an amendment to temporarily suspend fuel taxes, as an obligation to citizens who currently pay more for oil than almost any other European.

This would be a necessary step to ease the burden on Albanian families and to show that there are alternatives to a system that weighs heavily on citizens' pockets every day.

At the same time, there remains one more reason to intensify civic reaction and democratic protest, as the only way to provide a final solution to this situation which, unfortunately, is not only related to oil!/ CNA

Government corruption and high oil prices





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