Romania's excise duty on fuel, used to finance 0 km of highways

The Romanian state collected EUR 630 million between April last year and March 2015, after introducing a new excise duty of EUR 0.07 per gasoline liter on April 1, 2014. The tax has led to a 7% increase in the price of gasoline. In November 2013, Prime Minister Victor Ponta said that the money from the new excise duty would be used to finance big infrastructure projects. The former Transport Minister Dan Sova also said at the end of 2013 that the new tax will finance highways and national roads. However, the state hasn’t built any highway so far with this money, reports local Ziarul Financiar. In the summer of 2014, the Prime Minister admitted that the tax rather covers the pension budget deficit instead of being used to build highways. According to available information, a highway kilometer in Romania costs about EUR 5-6 million. With the EUR 630 million collected from the excise duty plus VAT, the state could have built about 125 km of highways. Last year, Romania finished 50 km of new highways, but 85% of their costs were covered from European funds. editor@romania-insider.com