Article · Energy · Money and markets · Lithuania
What has to happen before Lithuania cuts fuel excise duty?
There is no single rule. Three conditions have been named in public: oil above 100 dollars a barrel, an average diesel price of 2.20 euros for five working days in a row, and clarity on the 2027 budget. Brent has stayed above 100 dollars since September 9, so by September 15 the oil condition had held for five trading days. The diesel threshold was not reached that day, with the average at 2.18 euros. There is no decision, and none of the conditions is written into any legal act.
Diesel in Lithuania has cost more than 2 euros a litre since August. The government has been talking about cutting excise duty since July. The question this piece answers is not "will it get cheaper" but something far more specific: what exactly has to happen for the decision to be taken, and who measures that event.
There are three conditions, named by different people, and by mid-September one of them had already been met.