MOSCOW. (RIA Novosti economic commentator...
corruption and reduce the sector's transparency.Domestic fuel prices in nearly all oil and gas producing countries are considerably lower than world export prices. Their fuel and energy sectors are usually controlled by the state, which also fixes domestic prices.
In Turkmenistan, a liter of gasoline costs $0.02 and gas is free for domestic users. Algeria, the third largest gas supplier to Europe, has been resisting European demands that it increase domestic prices for 21 years.
The only exception is Norway, where the government, which controls the fuel sector, levies high taxes on gasoline sales for environmental reasons, so that gasoline in Norway costs twice as much as in Russia. However, Norwegians' incomes are five to six times higher than in Russia, and the bulk of the revenues raised are used to urge social and economic development. Gas prices, on the contrary, are low in Norway.
Even the "citadel of liberalism," the United States,
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