Fuel Price Increases Set Off Protests From Syria to Guatemala

Fuel shortages and price increases have produced street protests on three continents, The New York Times reported, naming Indonesia, Guatemala and Syria among the countries affected and describing rolling blackouts alongside the price rises. The common cause is the sustained increase in crude prices driven by the conflict between the United States and Iran and the disruption of Gulf shipping.

Syria produced the sharpest reaction. The government raised diesel prices to 175 Syrian pounds a liter, an increase of roughly 40 percent, and raised gasoline prices by more than 25 percent. Al Jazeera reported that the increases brought people onto highways across the country in what it described as the largest demonstrations since the fall of the Assad government two years ago. Syria produces roughly 102,000 barrels of oil a day against domestic consumption of about 325,000 barrels, so it must import the difference at the prevailing world price.

In Pakistan, the response played out in government institutions rather than in the streets. The Sindh Assembly, normally split along party lines, united behind a resolution demanding the federal government stop passing daily movements in global oil prices through to consumers, arguing that Pakistan does not import petrol every day and therefore should not reprice it every day. Provincial legislators also pressed for withdrawal of a petroleum levy exceeding 100 rupees a liter.

The pattern is consistent across very different political systems. Governments that let the world price reach consumers face protests. Governments that absorb the price face widening deficits, which they must then finance in a bond market that is already demanding higher yields. There is no option that avoids the cost, only a choice about who carries it and when it appears.