Aleksejus Podpruginas | The Lithuania Tribune
The price of one litre of the most common fuel in Lithuania, 95 Octane, has crossed the priceline of five litas. There is little likelihood of the price going down, according to a report in kurier.lt. There seems to be little justification for such a sharp price increase and Lithuanian drivers recall with strong feelings how only two months ago the price was lower by 50 cents per litre, according to “Lietuvos Rytas.”“I do not think that fuel prices will rise above the heights of April, because the situation in the oil market is not that hard – the supply and demand is more balanced” – explained the capital market foundations analyst at Bank Finasta, Tadas Povilauskas.
One of the reasons for the rise in the price of fuel is that oil production in the North Sea is rapidly declining. In the next two months there will be a temporary suspension of oil production in one of the largest deposits. Moreover, the price of oil type “Urals oil” has been rising faster than “Brent” type, and their prices are almost equal today. The company “Orlen Lietuva” processes “Urals” type oil, reported kurier.lt.
It is a smoke and mirrors economy. How is it that the same fuels that are available in some countries for a few cents per litre are priced in multiple Euros per litre in others?
Same applies in the rip-off pharmaceutical supplies industries. Here in Spain, when we pick up our prescriptions, the actual cost of a few tablets for the month is typically €270. They are nothing special; statins, blood pressure… as cheap as Aspirin.
The entire set-up stinks. My son works in a factory that produces specialist bags. A major customer is the UK’s National Health Service (NHS). The factoy sell bags at £10 each to an agency. The agency then sells them to the NHS for over £130 each. Now tell me this isn’t as bent as a dog’s back leg.
But the main reason is, of course, the sharp fall in value of the lita (and euro) compared to the USD. As we all know, oil prices are quoted in USD.