Georgia imports 6.4% less gasoline, diesel in H1
TBILISI. Aug 5 (Interfax) - Georgia, which meets all its oil-product needs with imports, brought in 354,000 tonnes of gasoline and diesel fuel during the first half of 2013, a 6.4% year-on-year decrease, the country's union of producers, importers, and consumers of oil products told Interfax.
That amounted to 157,000 tonnes of gasoline and 196,200 tonnes of diesel.
June oil-product imports were down 21% month-on-month at 58,200 tonnes, including 27,000 tonnes of gasoline and 31,100 tonnes of diesel.
The union attributes the drop in gas and diesel imports to transporters in the country switching to cheaper (by half) automotive gas, the price for which is now 1.05 lari - or $0.60 at the current exchange rate - per cubic meter.
According to the country's National Statistics Service, gasoline and diesel fuel prices in Georgia decreased 4% in H1 this year and 7.8% for the year end-June 2012 to end-June this year.
Georgia imported 842,300 tonnes of gasoline and diesel fuel in 2012, 1.4% more than the year before. The republic imported 382,400 tonnes of gasoline, down 5.5%, and 459,800 tonnes of diesel, up 7.5%. Oil-product prices went down 0.9% last year.
The official exchange rate for August 5: 1.6648 lari/$1.