By THE PULSE NEWS MEXICO STAFF

Despite President Andrés Manuel López Obrador’s (AMLO) repeated promises to keep fuel prices down and ongoing tax discounts from the nation’s Finance Secretariat, gasoline prices in Mexico are now higher than in the United States.

According to data from the consulting firm PetroIntelligence, regular gasoline sold Thursday in Mexico at an average of 21.51 pesos per liter, while on the other side of the Río Grande, it cost the equivalent of 21.33 pesos per liter, according to data from the AAA Gas Prices site. and using the Banxico FIX exchange rate.

Thus, gasoline for drivers in Mexico was 0.9 percent more expensive than in the United States.

Were it not for the tax discounts, called “fiscal incentives,” regular gasoline would have sold at 30.41 pesos per liter in Mexico, that is, 42.7 percent above the current average in the United States.

According to energy analysts, it is logical for gasoline prices in Mexico to be higher than in the United States, since most of the gasoline consumed in the country is imported from U.S. providers, which implies a higher cost in terms of logistics.

In recent years, the price of regular gasoline in Mexico has been an average of 36 percent more expensive than in the United States.

However, on March 4, the average price observed in the United States was higher than in Mexico.

Then, on March 11, the price differential between gasoline in both countries reached a maximum, becoming 11.5 percent cheaper in Mexico, as prices soaring in the United States.

PetroIntelligence director Alejandro Montufar Helú said that the increase in prices in the United States was in turn due to the increase in international crude oil prices as a result of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, which began on Feb. 24.

However, he explained that international prices have dropped in recent days.

Montufar Helú said that while the U.S. market adjusts immediately to these fluctuations, the Mexican market does not.

Mexico imports, either through Pemex or private companies, about 68 percent of the gasoline it consumes, according to the Energy Secretariat.

Until Friday, April 22, regular gasoline in Mexico will continue to have a total discount of the Special Tax on Production and Services (IEPS) quota of 5.49 pesos per liter and an additional discount of 1.03 pesos for a complementary tax stimulus.