Ali urges fuel importers, transportation operators to reduce profits

Last Updated on Tuesday, 19 May 2026, 19:35 by Denis Chabrol

As commuters continue to pay increased bus, car and speedboat fares due to rising fuel prices at the pumps, President Irfaan Ali on Tuesday asked fuel importers to slash their profit margins in an effort to reduce transportation costs.

“In this period of volatility, for us to address this as a country, as a system, and not to adjust fares to the extent that it erodes consumers’ confidence and it adds pressure on the consuming public,” he said in a video statement on Facebook.

He appealed to fuel importers and public transportation providers to be “nationalistic”, in this period of international fuel price volatility due to the ongoing crisis in the Middle East, rising costs for energy and international transport. “We expect that all of the operators will reduce their profit lines so as to mitigate that impact and also for us to, for the suppliers of public transportation to be socially responsible during this period,” he said.

He cautioned Guyanese against believing that because the country produces just under 1 million barrels per day, there is no refinery and as such all refined products are imported.

The President said over the years, Guyana’s national treasury had given up over GY$100 billion annually and kept prices far below international price increases at the pump. Dr Ali said government had already reduced and eventually removed all of the excise tax on fuels, but he lamented that when that was done, public transportation operators did not reduce fares. “Now while this occurred, while the government would have invested hundreds of billions of dollars annually to stave off any inflationary pressure at a pump and ensure that the prices remain stable, we did not see any corresponding reduction in taxi fares, airfares, corresponding reduction in the fares for minibuses, we did not see corresponding reduction in the transportation costs. Now in any society where this cost is absorbed, then there must be consequential benefits that goes to the consumer,” he added.

By the President’s calculation, a minibus operating in Georgetown and consuming an average of more than 12 gallons/50 litres,  delivers savings of about GY$6,000 per day, directly increasing profitability and helping to keep fares affordable. “Now that we have this challenge and we have utilized fully that tool, this tool that was available to us, I think the minibus operators, the taxi, the speedboat operators, and of course, truckers, and all stakeholders within this framework now have to play their role because this is something that is affecting us at the national level,” he also said.

The President restated government’s almost four-year old plans for a refinery to be built in Guyana.