The latest fuel price rise should not increase the cost of transport of commodities and passengers, the president of the Road Hauliers Association, Marijan Banelli, told media on Tuesday, adding that 99 per cent of hauliers used diesel.
Banelli said the petrol price rise should not be used to raise the prices of goods and services, explaining that transport accounted for one to three per cent of their prices.
The association of mills and bakeries Zitozajednica said the petrol price rise would not result in higher bread prices, as transport vehicles ran on diesel and gas or electricity were used in production.
The government should urgently react to the increase in fuel prices by reducing excise taxes on oil products and reducing VAT from 23 to 22 per cent, said Ozren Matijasevic, president of the Croatian Trade Union Association.
The president of the Independent Croatian Trade Unions, Kresimir Sever, said the fuel price rise should not lead to an increase in other prices.
He went on to say that the latest information about nearly 320,000 jobless at the end of December showed that Croatia had still not hit the bottom of the current crisis, as some employers had announced further layoffs, adding that it was time for the government to propose measures to curb the rise in unemployment.
