Editorial for 9 November: Break needed on fuel prices

The people of the Cayman Islands need a break.

From petrol prices, that is.

For months the price of regular gasoline has hovered around $5.50 a
gallon – and yes, we know it’s an IMPERIAL gallon. One imperial gallon is
approximately equal to 1.201 US gallons; not a huge difference.

And certainly not enough of a difference to warrant high fuel prices in
the Cayman Islands.

In the Legislative Assembly earlier this year during a debate on a
customs tariff amendment to raise the import charges from 50 cents to 75 cents
per gallon on gasoline and from 60 cents to 85 cents on diesel, Premier McKeeva
Bush actually begged local businesses to absorb the additional costs from the
25-cent increase. His words apparently fell on deaf ears, especially those who
run the 21 petrol stations on Grand Cayman.

During that debate Mr. Bush said the local markup on a $4.41 gallon of
gas is $1.78, which he said “constitutes very heavy margins”.

The Caribbean Utilities Company also wasn’t listening to Mr. Bush.
Utility bills have been extraordinarily high since the 25-cent fuel increase
became law on 1 July.

We’ve also seen prices inch up on goods and services in the Cayman
Islands since the duty was increased.

We understand that businesses have to make money; that’s their job.

And we understand that the Government has to raise money for the
country’s coffers.

What we don’t understand is why the price of fuel has remained high in
the Cayman Islands when the price of fuel has fallen elsewhere.

The average price of fuel in the United States for a gallon of gas is
around $3.25. Even if we do the math between US and CI dollars, we’re looking
at a price of just over $4 a gallon in the Cayman Islands. While that is before
the duty kicks in, the price is still lower than the low average of $5.50 a
gallon – and that’s for self service – in the Cayman Islands. There are things
we can do, individually, to cut down on our gasoline consumption, be we believe
there are things petrol station owners can do to ease our burden.