New Fuel Prices Take Effect: Diesel Gets Cheaper, SDSM Calls the Measure Half-Hearted
Mickoski: daily savings from the lower diesel VAT exceed €250,000. SDSM wants a lower rate for both households and business.
The lower value-added tax on diesel fuel, cut from 18 to 10 percent, showed up in retail prices for the first time after midnight, once the Energy Regulatory Commission published the new prices for the week ahead. The measure, adopted at the government's 13 September session, runs until 24:00 on 28 September.
Prime Minister Hristijan Mickoski, speaking at an event at the Customs Administration on the Tabanovce border crossing, said the lower VAT means Macedonian citizens are saving more than €250,000 a day on diesel. "The government is making sure to protect people's living standards," he said, tying the measure to movements on world oil markets.
Opposition party SDSM, in statements to news portals, called the measure late and only partial, demanding a lower VAT rate and broader steps to protect both households and businesses, not diesel alone. The party keeps linking the government's cost-of-living measures to the separate dispute over the independence celebration's cost and the State Lottery.
The cut, as reported, does not apply to petrol, whose prices are rising rather than falling. The new prices that took effect after midnight were published by the regulator under its normal weekly calculation, which already factors in the lower diesel VAT.
After 28 September the rate reverts automatically to 18 percent unless the government issues a new decision to extend the cut, depending on how world oil prices move in the meantime.
MKNews Hub · Economy · September 14, 2026