Bulgaria’s decision to increase the transit tax for the gas transported via the Balkan Stream gas pipeline on its territory will affect the gas price in Serbia, said the director of the Serbian gas provider, Dusan Bajatovic.
“Whether this increase will affect the consumers in Serbia depends on what the Government of Serbia estimates. In making the decision on the new gas price, we take into account not only the price of gas, also the country’s economic growth, the employment situation and the population’s ability to pay the higher price,” Bajatovic added.
At the end of last week, Bulgaria imposed additional taxes on the import and transport of Russian gas in the amount of 20 levs (around EUR 10) per megawatt-hour.
They came into effect on October 13.
The estimates are that Bulgaria might earn EUR 1 billion a year from these taxes.
Bajatovic believes that the increase in the transit tax is “a terrible situation for the entire Southeast Europe.”
“This violates all market rules and implements a discriminatory measure. It turns out that the consumers in Serbia and Hungary are now lining the Bulgarian budget”, said the director of Srbijagas.
Experts say that Bulgaria’s decision could ramp up the price of gas in Serbia by 30%, in addition to the announced gas price hike of 10% on November 1st.
(N1, 20.10.2023)
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