Prime Minister Ilie Bolojan said on Friday, during a visit to Bihor county, that the Government will monitor the development of fuel prices in order to 'mitigate, in a certain way, their impact,' but stressed that price increases cannot be cancelled.

The Prime Minister added that, due to the conflict in the Middle East and the disruption of the crude oil and derivatives supply chain, 'there has been an impact worldwide, an impact we cannot avoid.'

'Where it has depended on us, as was the case in the gas sector, we have taken measures to prevent any impact, this means that we have sufficient internal sources allowing us to do this by regulating, through an administrative measure, the price so that it is not higher than it was before the crisis began. Regarding petrol and diesel prices, that is, pump prices, we are monitoring what is happening so that, on the one hand, these prices increase in a manner well below the rise of crude oil or diesel and petrol prices on international markets - this is very important to avoid passing this increase overnight into the pockets of Romanians and, on the other hand, if the conflict continues and supply chains do not stabilise, clearly, if the price rises in the coming period above an alarming level, we will take the measures at our disposal, not to cancel the price increase, because we cannot do that, but to mitigate, in a certain way, its impact,' Prime Minister Ilie Bolojan explained.

He also brought to mind that the Government has extended the financing scheme for transport operators, 'through which a significant part of the increase in pump prices will be absorbed through the excise deduction mechanism.' AGERPRES (RO - writing by: Marian Buga; EN - writing by: Rodica State)