600mln Euros Of Fuel Was Being Smuggled In Greece

 (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

The value of fuel smuggling in Greece is estimated at more than 600 million euros annually, despite a government decision to equate taxation on diesel and heating oil. This was assessed recently at a meeting chaired by Finance Minister Yannis Stournaras with Development Minister Costis Hatzidakis, Merchant Marine Minister Costis Moussouroulis and Development and Environment Deputy Ministers Thanasis Skordas and Asimakis Papageorgiou. The meeting focused on ways to combat fuel smuggling more efficiently.

The hike in the consumption tax on heating oil in 2012 might of helped curb widespread fuel smuggling, worth an estimated 600 million Euros annually, but the ministers agreed that more coordinated, and swifter, action needed to be taken to stamp out the scourge. In such a framework, the installation of a system for controlling the fuel outflow in pumps at gas stations in Athens and Thessaloniki is expected to be completed by the end of March and its extension to gas stations across the country by March next year.