I do not know how long the government can bear the costs of the global rise in "fuel prices" without reflecting it on the local market, and how long can the treasury continue to pay the difference on behalf of the consumer, at a time when the costs of oil, shipping, and insurance are rising, and pressures on global energy markets are increasing, what is the government's capacity and how long can it manage?
The question here is not in defense of raising prices, which must happen, nor is it ignoring the pressure the citizen is experiencing in their living conditions, but it is a question about the treasury's ability to continue bearing the bill, especially since the price differences it has borne so far may have exceeded "250 billion" dinars, despite the deficit, due to the policy of gradual pricing and support for the gas cylinder.
This number simply means that the state was not transferring every global increase to the citizen at the moment it occurred, but was absorbing part of it through the treasury, so that the full shock does not reach the citizen's pocket, and this in itself is a significant cost that cannot be treated as a duty on the government.
The problem is that the cost of importing oil derivatives cannot be determined by the government according to the citizen's capacity alone, as Jordan imports most of its oil needs, and any increase in prices globally or in shipping and insurance costs will ultimately be reflected in the cost of bringing these derivatives to the local market.
Therefore, talk about raising fuel prices in the coming month, if it comes, should not be read only from the angle of the amount that will be added to the price per liter, but from the angle of what the treasury has borne over the past period to mitigate the impact of global increases.
The citizen, of course, wants the prices to remain as they are, and may wish for them to decrease, which is completely understandable given the high cost of living, but in return, the government cannot keep the gap between the cost of import and the selling price open indefinitely, because every difference borne by the treasury means additional money coming out of the state's resources that we will all bear later.
It is noteworthy that the international comparison of fuel prices shows that Jordan is not the highest-priced country in the world; our diesel, according to the circulating comparisons, is cheaper than its prices in 129 countries, while gasoline prices in 69 countries are higher than in Jordan.
In conclusion, the difficult equation lies in the fact that the state is required to protect the citizen, but it is also required to protect the state's finances, and the citizen needs to know that when the government postpones raising prices, it does not eliminate the cost, but temporarily bears it from the treasury, and here the equation is not between the government and the citizen, but between a global cost that we cannot control and a local capacity that we should not burden more than necessary.
