puyol
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I HAVE just bought a full tank of petrol – for ONE POUND.
But I had to fly half way around the world to get it.
I am in Venezuela, where petrol is the world's cheapest, at less than 2p a litre — 54 times less than the UK, where unleaded averages £1.19.
Diesel here is pretty pricey though, at 2½p a litre. I filled up a garage in Caracas, the capital.
Rather than wincing as the signs on the pump spiralled past £50, here I knew that it was the equivalent of pennies. My 63-litre tank cost just a quid to fill.
It was hot work, so I bought a litre of water for 60p — then realised I could have had 37 litres of petrol for the same price.
Fuel in this oil-rich South American country is so cheap that for less than a tenner I could have driven the 4,662 miles from London to Caracas.
The price is so low because the left-wing government doesn't tax petrol, it SUBSIDISES it and fuel is sold at a fraction of the price it costs to produce.
Efrain Salazar, the petrol station manager, told me: "The prices in both our countries are crazy.
"The price of oil is already too high. Your Government makes it worse by taxing it and by a huge amount.
"Venezuela loses lots of money. We pay people to waste fuel. We could be exporting it and making lots of money. We waste our biggest natural resource."
Taxi driver Cesar Fernandez agreed. He said: "Of course it should cost more but no one really complains because they think they are getting a present.
"Venezuelan taxi drivers would be the luckiest in the world if it wasn't for all the traffic jams."
The giveaway prices do come at a cost. The cheapest petrol in the world comes with some of the worst congestion and pollution.
But woe betide any Venezuelan government which tries to take away the subsidy — previous administrations have been kicked out for hinting at it.
p/s Hanya RM2 diperlukan untuk fulltank kan kereta Proton saga..
((
