Drivers Protest against High Prices on Fuel
Tuesday, November 27
The protesters held rallies at several locations in Tbilisi, mainly at the large petrol stations.
The people reminded the authorities their pre-election promise that the prices on fuel would be reduced by GEL 1.
“The government lied to us when they promised the petrol price would be decreased. The price hit the highest rate lately,” a driver told Rustavi 2.
The citizens accuse the oil importer companies in cartel dealing with the government. They demand the ruling Georgian Dream (GD) party fulfilled their promise and regulated prices on the Georgian market.
The protesters were joined by the opposition party United National Movement (UNM).
"There is a resource for the fuel prices to be reduced, which will improve the bad economic conditions of our citizens, but there is no political will from the Georgian Dream," said Kote Ioseliani, a member of the UNM.
Grigol Vashadze, United Opposition’s presidential candidate, also commented on the issue. According to him, the only country where the new price on oil products are not reflected is Georgia.
“The only reason why this happens in Georgia is that there is a monopoly in this field. There is a cartel, whose members agree on prices and the whole tax and income received from the population, goes to the election headquarters of the ruling Georgian Dream,” the candidate stressed.
Fuel importing companies say that the price on the global market went down last week, adding that earlier imported fuel is being sold and when it runs out, the price will decrease.
“When we import new production the corrected prices will appear on the Georgian market as well,” Vasil Khorava, a Wissol representative stated.
The increase of the oil products price is directly linked with other products. The organizers of the rally claim they will not stop until the reasonable prices are introduced in the country.