Boris Mugoša, a lawmaker from the European Alliance, said petrol would be 30 cents cheaper and diesel 15 cents cheaper if Montenegro’s government applied the legal mechanism to cut excise duties on both fuels by 50%. The government has reduced diesel excise by 20% but has not cut excise on petrol.
A litre of diesel in Montenegro now costs 64 cents more than it did seven months ago, an increase of more than 45%. The price difference also brings the state an additional 11 cents in value-added tax revenue per litre of fuel. Fuel prices in Montenegro are among the highest in the region.
European Alliance lawmakers have proposed three further measures to reduce fuel prices, none of which had been accepted by the government at the time of Mugoša’s comments. Weekly price adjustments were being made “without any explanation,” a practice he described as “truly inappropriate.” He also linked rising fuel costs to higher prices for goods and services.
Citing data from Montenegro’s Statistical Office (Monstat), Mugoša pointed to transport costs as a significant contributor to inflation and said the state was not fully using the legal measures available to it. September’s annual inflation rate was higher than in 90% of eurozone and European Union countries and significantly above the EU average. Montenegro recorded its highest annual inflation rate since April 2024 in September.
