1p a litre ? the country with the world?s cheapest diesel

[super jumbe]

Yahoo! Finance UK/Fotolia - Morrisons, Sainsbury?s, Tesco and Asda are cutting 2p off the price of a litre of diesel

Diesel prices in Britain are the fourth most expensive on the planet, but there are countries where you could fill up and still get change from a pound coin


There was a touch of good news for motorists this week after two supermarkets cut petrol prices by 2p a litre and diesel prices by 1p but it was a rare ray of sunshine in a country where fuel prices have risen from 86.7p a litre in 2007 to 137.5p in August this year

Country Cost of a litre of diesel % of monthly income spent filling up
Venezuela 1p 0.3%
Iran 2p 0.6%
Saudi Arabia 5p 0.4%
Libya 10p 2.5%
Bahrain 10p 1.3%
Turkmenistan 13p 7.7%
Qatar 15p 0.6%
Kuwait 17p 1%
Yemen 19p 14.1%
Brunei 20p 1.3%




Of course, only around 50p of that actually goes on the petrol or diesel itself, with almost all the rest going in tax. And all that tax means the only countries in the world with higher diesel prices than Britain are Turkey (144p a litre), Italy (147p) and Norway (150p).

But even if there was no tax at all, British motorists would still be paying more than drivers in a whole host of countries, thanks to state subsidies elsewhere.

We take a look at the 10 cheapest places on Earth to fill up a diesel car, and how that relates to average incomes in the country:

http://uk.finance.yahoo.com/news/the-country-with-the-worlds-cheapest-diesel-112205317.html

[super jumbe]

Just imagine how much Govt makes a day on fuel when they buy on discount rate less then a penny unrefined we should all be living a lavish life free booze, cigars, Kentucky, etc. bottom line were is this profit used??

[GastonJ]

Country	Cost of a litre of diesel	% of monthly income spent filling up
Venezuela	1p	0.3%
Iran	2p	0.6%
Saudi Arabia	5p	0.4%
Libya	10p	2.5%
Bahrain	10p	1.3%
Turkmenistan	13p	7.7%
Qatar	15p	0.6%
Kuwait	17p	1%
Yemen	19p	14.1%
Brunei	20p	1.3%

You have to remember that's the 'average' income in that country, which will be well exagerated, since there's generally a massive gap between the amount the poor and the rich 'earn'.

(Stolen from Wikipedia)

Personal income


Iran is classed as a middle income country and has made significant progress in provision of health and education services in the period covered by the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs). In 2010, Iran's average monthly income was about $500 (GNI per capita in 2012: $13,000 by PPP). A minimum national wage applies to each sector of activity as defined by the Supreme Labor Council. In 2009 this was about $263 per month ($3,156 per year).[132] The World Bank reported that in 2001, approximately 20% of household consumption was spent on food, 32% on fuel, 12% on health care and 8% on education.


The official poverty line in Tehran for the year ending March 20, 2008, was $9,612, while the national average poverty line was $4,932. In 2010, Iran's Department of Statistics announced that 10 million Iranians live under the absolute poverty line and 30 million live under the relative poverty line.

So if you look at the stats above for Iran you'll find that the average spent on fuel a month is 32% of income (old stats, unless anyone has any newer?), different from that quoted by Yahoo, over 40 times more. Can't decide which one is accurate really. However you have to remember that 40 million Iranians, as above, live under the poverty line in one way or another - out of 74 million, that's more than 50%. I would guess that the average income is quite well skewed by the gap between the haves and have nots (nothing new there - you'd have to ask the same question as to how many people in the UK earn the average ?26k here, and see how skewed it really is)

Can't really decide what I've added to the thread other than pointing out that Yahoo's data looks incorrect, or Wikipedia is miles out - either way statistics aren't worth writing about

[GastonJ]

Just imagine how much Govt makes a day on fuel when they buy on discount rate less then a penny unrefined we should all be living a lavish life free booze, cigars, Kentucky, etc. bottom line were is this profit used??

and with the tax being calculated the way it is, and the VAT, that is why the government rubs it's hands each time the price goes up at the pump. It means that the government gets more revenue from the tax and "it's the evil oil companies who put the price up". That's why when teh government announced last year that "they would not add on the extra 1p per litre" it's like saying "we have your money anyway, aren't we nice not taking it again, you should bow down and pray to us" when in reality they don't need to take it because they already have it