Updated 8.25pm - Added PN statement

Enemed fuel prices are set to rise by 5c a litre starting from Wednesday, with the state-owned company announcing the imminent hike in its prices on Tuesday evening.

Petrol, which is sold as E-Unleaded, will rise in price by 3.8 per cent to reach €1.36 a litre. It currently sells for €1.31.

Petrol Super, which is sold as E-Power, will cost €1.51 a litre, a 3.4 per cent increase from its current €1.46 price.

Diesel will rise in price from its current price of €1.18 a litre to €1.23, Enemed said in a brief statement. – a 4.2 per cent increase. 

Fuel prices had last increased in January 2017. On that occasion, prices rose by 4c. 

In a statement, the Energy Ministry said that petrol prices would still be 9c cheaper per litre than the European average, while average diesel prices were 11.5c cheaper per litre.

“After this revision [in prices], petrol prices in Malta will still be cheaper than in 15 other European countries, where seven out of every 10 Europeans live,” the ministry said.

It added that pump prices had remained stable for 82 consecutive weeks, and that rising international oil prices had pushed EU petrol prices up by an average of 10c a litre since March, with a 9c per litre average increase for diesel.

Nationalist Party deputy leader and energy spokesman David Agius said that the in raising pump prices, the Labour Party was breaking a promise it had made to the people. 

Apart from spending more time stuck in traffic, he said, people would now also have to pay more to be on the road.