The president of the Uruguayan Union of Gasoline Retailers, Daniel Sanguinetti, said that demand is expected to increase before the price hike of up to seven percent takes effect on April 1.

The pressure on gas stations will also increase this weekend leading up to Tourism Week, which begins on Monday and during which thousands of Uruguayans travel throughout the country.

Thus, the price war initiated by the United States and Israel against Iran has impacted Uruguay, particularly the country’s fuel purchases on the international market.

The Ministers of Economy, Gabriel Oddone, and of Industry, Energy, and Tourism, Fernanda Cardona, explained that the government decided on the price adjustment as an “extraordinary” measure, effective next Wednesday.

They said that for the duration of the current situation, fuel prices will be set monthly, not bimonthly as previously established, in a context where the price of oil exceeded $110 per barrel this month.

Oddone argued that without an adjustment band capped at seven percent, the increases “would be extraordinarily higher.”

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