Ljubljana - The prices of regular petrol and diesel at pumps outside motorways will rise by nearly 20 cents a litre on Tuesday. Regular petrol will cost EUR 1.755 a litre, up from EUR 1.56, while diesel will cost EUR 1.848 a litre, compared to EUR 1.668 at the moment. The new prices will remain in place until 4 July when they are adjusted again.

Fuel prices in Slovenia have been unchanged since May 11, when the previous government capped them amid rapidly growing energy prices.

Last week, the new government decided to reintroduce for a year a system of price margin regulation at service stations outside the motorway network, while completely liberalising the prices along motorways.

In response to the rising prices of fuel, the government also set a maximum margin on fuel and temporarily abolished several environmental taxes on fuel.

The expected price hike has resulted in a rush to petrol stations across the entire country at the weekend, with many fuel retailers running out of fuel while insisting that they have enough supplies.

Despite the coming price hike, the prices in Slovenia will remain lower than in most of its neighbours. In Austria, for example, a litre of regular petrol costs EUR 2.088 on average and diesel EUR 2.071, according to the AMZS website.

In Croatia, prices will be similar from Tuesday. After the introduction of price caps, a litre of petrol outside motorways will cost EUR 1.87 and diesel EUR 1.81 per litre. Retailers will be able to set their own prices at petrol stations along motorways, the same as in Slovenia.