Increase in diesel excise duty in Lithuania

Following the AANZeT of the Green Fuel Tax Package by the Lithuanian Parliament (Seimas) last week, from 2025 the rate of excise duty in Lithuania for diesel is equal to that of petrol. From 2026 it will even be higher than the excise duty rate for petrol. In this way, the authorities hope to stimulate the choice of less polluting fuels..

In this way, the authorities hope to stimulate the choice of less polluting fuels.

According to calculations by the Lithuanian Ministry of the Environment, upon approval of the green gas fuel excise package, a litre of diesel will be used at service stations become more expensive every year at 4-6 cents as a result of this measure. According to various news sources, another system of excise duties from 2025 are added for the reduction of CO2 emissions. It is estimated that this increase is another 3 cents per litre.

According to this calculation, the diesel price in Lithuania will already have risen by 10 cents by 2025, which implies a more than 7%. According to the current figures, the average diesel price in Lithuania will be about the same as that of Hungary and neighbouring Estonia in 2025. On average, it will be more attractive to refuel in Poland, since the diesel prices of Poland and Lithuania are currently comparable, but not after the 10 cent increase.

The tank behaviour of Lithuanian transport operators could change drastically with these measures by a shift from home to another country, for example Poland. This probably also applies to transport operators from Estonia and Latvia. They too may be moving to Poland or other more Western countries. Depending on the route, countries like Luxembourg and Belgium (due to the diesel tax compensation) may also be more interesting tankers.

Lithuania also recognises that they are transit countries and that this will have an impact on the tank behaviour of the inhabitants of Lithuania itself and the surrounding countries. With this change, mainly businesses and consumers are most likely to be inclined to fill the tank in surrounding countries.