The price of petrol and diesel will drop by €0.03 per litre as from Monday, with the Energy Ministry pointing out that the decrease was occurring while fuel prices were on an upward trend elsewhere in the EU.

The price of petrol will thus be €1.35 per litre, while that of diesel will be €1.28 per litre, and the ministry credited Enemed with carrying out a number of transactions with bringing the prices down.

However, a quick glance at the EU statistics quoted by the ministry show that even when the decrease in price is considered, the pre-tax price of both petrol and diesel remains the highest in the EU.

Excluding taxes, the price of litre diesel stands at €0.637, slightly higher than in Denmark, where the price in Danish kroner is equivalent to €0.633. The pre-tax price of a litre of petrol remains substantially higher than anywhere else in the EU at €0.62: the second-highest price - equivalent to €0.562 - is once more found in Denmark.

But higher tax rates in other countries mean that Maltese consumers do not pay the highest prices in the EU for their fuel.

The new price of diesel would be the seventh highest in the EU - the highest can be found in the UK, equivalent to €1.57 per litre. The new price of petrol would be the tenth highest: Dutch motorists have to pay an average of €1.55 for a litre of petrol.

In its statement, the Energy Ministry pointed out that tomorrow's price reduction would mean that the price of petrol fell eight times under the present government, whilst that of diesel was reduced six times.

It said that the government's policy in favour of price stability was bearing fruit, stating that it has translated to one of the lowest rates of inflation - despite economic growth - and even to reduction in the price of LPG.

The ministry concluded that this policy allowed Maltese families and business to plan their expenditure and not worry about monthly fluctuations in price.