Azerbaijan, Baku, April 7/ Trend M. Moezzi
The 57 billion liters of petrol and diesel fuel used by Iranians last year earned the government $8.1 billion, Mehr news agency reports.
Iranians' petrol use totaled around 21.8 billion liters last year (Iran's solar year ended on March 20), a 1.9 percent drop from the year before when consumption stood at 22.2 billion liters. Petrol use dropped even after two million new vehicles were released on Iran's roads.
About 35.1 billion liters of diesel were used last year, a 2.5 percent increase over the previous year's 34.2 billion liters.
Iran began a petrol quota program in the summer of 2007 with drivers being allocated 120 liters of fuel a month at subsidized prices. The monthly allowance has been reduced over the last 55 months to 60 liters.
Meanwhile, the Iranian government's program to end subsidies has pushed up petrol prices from 8 cents (USD) a liter to 32 cents a liter. The price for a liter of petrol on the free market is about 57 cents while super grade petrol costs 65 cents.
The government has permission to increase petrol prices 20 percent a year, but it didn't do so last year. That means prices could go up by as much as 40 percent this year.
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