Portuguese rush to gas stations amid surging fuel prices

LISBON, March 5 (Xinhua) -- Inflation in global oil prices caused a general readjustment of fuel prices in Portugal, causing a rush of consumers to fill up their cars.

Long queues were seen at gas stations on Saturday across the country, and the government announced measures to soften the impact of the price increase.

Portuguese finance minister Joao Leao told a press conference that he will grant a monthly bonus of 20 euros (22 U.S. dollars) to help Portuguese drivers, as well as tax cuts.

The Portuguese enrolled in the program called "Autovoucher" will receive a refund of 10 euro cents per liter of fuel.

The Portuguese minister explained that his European Union (EU) colleagues are waiting for guidance from the European Commission (EC) to respond to the increase in energy prices.

In addition, the Minister of Environment and Climate Action, Joao Pedro Matos Fernandes, presented measures for public transport, which will receive 30 cents per liter of fuel.

Fuel retailers consider the measures announced by the government to mitigate the "huge increase" in prices to be "insufficient," reiterating that the "definitive solution" is to reduce the "extremely heavy tax burden" on gasoline and diesel.

"ANAREC (National Association of Fuel Dealers) concludes that the measures are insufficient, of a temporary nature, and do not allow a definitive solution to the real problem of fuel prices," they said in a statement released on Saturday.

For the association, the "measures do not solve the dynamics of the fuel market nor prevent any increases that may occur in the future," it said.

Dealers said that the expected increase "is harmful since their margins are fixed," and not percentages, which "implies lower profit, as the increase implies fewer liters sold."

The Coimbra District Farmers Association (ADACO) warned Saturday of the "brutal impact" that the rise in fuel prices will have on farming and asked the government to take urgent measures such as increasing discounts on agricultural diesel, to maintain the price that prevailed before the hikes.

"Either the government intervenes, or we will go hungry in the fields, with thousands of farmers abandoning their farms," it said. (1 euro = 1.10 U.S. dollars)