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<\/p>\nStormont’s Economy Minister has called for fuel duty to be slashed amid rising costs<\/p>\n
Stock image(Image: Getty)<\/p>\n
The cost of petrol and diesel is continuing to rise across Northern Ireland with some forecourts closing to customers due to fuel shortages. The Consumer Council’s Fuel Price Checker<\/a>, which is updated weekly, shows that the current average price of petrol in Northern Ireland is 149.1p per litre, while diesel is 177.8p.<\/p>\n Compared to last week, the cost of petrol has risen by 4.5p while diesel has increased by 8.1p. Since March 5, soon after the US-Israel war with Iran began, the average price of petrol has increased by 22.9p per litre, while diesel has risen by 44p.<\/p>\n The price of fuel varies depending on where you are in Northern Ireland<\/a>, with some areas coming in below the regional average. Fuel prices here are set by independent retailers based on global oil costs, exchange rates, and local competition at forecourts.<\/p>\n READ MORE: Stormont Minister calls for ‘immediate reduction’ in fuel duty<\/a>READ MORE: Minister says ‘fuel continues to be delivered as normal’ amid concerns of shortages<\/a><\/p>\n This week, the cheapest place locally to buy petrol is the Dungannon<\/a> area, where prices are 6.7p below average at 142.4p per litre. Magherafelt<\/a> is the most expensive area to fill up on petrol, with prices 7.8p above average at 156.9p.<\/p>\n For diesel, Coleraine<\/a> is the cheapest area to buy this week, with prices 7p below average at 170.8p per litre. Armagh<\/a> is currently the most expensive area to buy diesel in, with prices 8.1p above average at 185.9p.<\/p>\n The continually rising prices have led to Stormont’s Economy Minister urging the UK Government to immediately slash fuel duty.<\/a> Minister Archibald said she raised concerns over the impact of petrol and diesel prices during discussions with the Cabinet Office on Thursday morning, and also in a letter to Business and Trade Secretary Peter Kyle.<\/p>\n She pointed to action which has been taken by the Irish government to temporarily reduce excise duty for motor fuels as the impact of the war in the Gulf continues.<\/p>\n \u201cFuel duty must be reduced as a matter of urgency,\u201d she said. \u201cPetrol and diesel prices across the north have risen by between 20% and 40% in just a matter of days, creating sudden and unmanageable costs<\/a> for households and businesses.<\/p>\n \u201cThe Irish government has already acted by reducing Mineral Oil Tax across petrol, diesel and marked gas oil. That action has been widely welcomed by consumers and businesses in the south.”<\/p>\n Ms Archibald said the UK Government “must now act with the same urgency.”<\/p>\n \u201cAlongside an immediate reduction in fuel duty, the planned fuel duty increases due to come into effect from September must be withdrawn if fuel prices remain elevated,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n A spokesperson for the Treasury said: \u201cWe have the right economic plan for a more volatile world, taking a responsible approach to supporting working people in the national interest.<\/p>\n \u201cFuel duty is frozen until September and we\u2019re enabling targeted support for those facing higher heating oil costs. We\u2019re also acting to protect people from unfair price rises if they occur and to bring down food prices at the till.\u201d<\/p>\n For all the latest news, visit the Belfast Live homepage <\/strong>here<\/a><\/strong> and <\/strong>sign up to our daily newsletter<\/a><\/strong> here.<\/strong><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Stormont’s Economy Minister has called for fuel duty to be slashed amid rising costs Stock image(Image: Getty) The…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":869904,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":"","_share_on_mastodon":"0"},"categories":[5011],"tags":[80374,80195,80196,76611,487,84431,378,16768,1144,16,15],"class_list":["post-869903","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-northern-ireland","tag-co-armagh","tag-co-derry","tag-co-tyrone","tag-coleraine","tag-cost-of-living","tag-dungannon","tag-in-the-news","tag-magherafelt","tag-northern-ireland","tag-uk","tag-united-kingdom"],"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@uk\/116342257617862361","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/869903","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=869903"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/869903\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/869904"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=869903"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=869903"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=869903"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}