Since Monday, Paraguayan carriers hold a strike to demand a US$0,22 reduction in fuel prices, which have increased twice so far this year.
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“The rise in fuel prices has an impact on the cost of necessities and first-need products since it makes their transportation more expensive," the National Union of Workers in Moto President Federico Ferreira recalled.
Recently, the State announced that it plans to create a fuel price stabilization fund, which will count on a US$100 million loan approved by the Latin America Development Bank (CAF), and that comes from taxes to non-essential products such as alcoholic drinks and jewelry.
This policy, which will need to be ratified by Congress, will mainly benefit Type III diesel, which accounts for 55 percent of local consumption and supplies of the production sector.
The State also proposed to reduce to US$0.057 the value of the diesel purchased from the state-owned Petroleum from Paraguay (PETROPAR), which supplies mainly public and cargo carriers.
"Any measure proposed by the state to lower the price of fuels must be to the benefit of all citizens and not only of the sectors that take part in demonstrations," Ferreira pointed out.
He announced that protesters will remain on strike until their demands are duly addressed and did not rule out that more cargo units will join the demonstrations in the next few hours.