Competition Agency starts inspection of fuel prices in Georgia

The Georgian National Competition Agency has started inspection of domestic fuel prices to study the competitive behaviour of large sellers in the Georgian market and its compatibility with the competition legislation, the Agency announced on Wednesday.

The Chairman of the Agency, Irakli Lekvinadze, said the inspection would answer "important questions for the society", including whether the competition legislation was being violated by large companies, whether they “colluded” to affect prices, and whether their behaviour was “conscientious” towards customers.

The agency previously conducted a monitoring between January-July that revealed "specific companies" on the market had a “competitive advantage in pricing” for fuel imported from Russia and Romania, however adding "this was not properly reflected in the retail market despite the fact that during this period the international prices of fuel was decreasing and the national currency [...] was strengthening”.

The Union of Oil Product Importers announced on Tuesday that domestic petrol and diesel prices would continue to fall this month following the strengthening of the national currency and the decrease in international oil prices.

Georgian Prime Minister Irakli Garibashvili also said at Monday's Government meeting that fuel importer companies had promised the Government to reduce prices by 20-30 tetri by the end of August.