Ljubljana - The prices of regular petrol and diesel sold outside the motorway network will go down again at midnight, with the former to be sold at EUR 1.49 a litre, down 4.4 cents, and the latter at EUR 1.641, or 3.5 cents cheaper than today, the Economy Ministry has announced on its website.

The cheaper prices will be in force until 29 August, while the prices at filling stations along motorways and expressways remain liberated.

This is the fourth price drop in a row that comes despite the government reintroducing the CO2 emission excise duty in the price on 2 August and the excise duty for energy efficiency for motor fuels, which will kick in on Wednesday.

The government said last week that the duty had to be reintroduced to support investments by the Eco Fund that increase energy independence, efficiency and increase the share of renewables.

Meanwhile, the contribution that is used to finance high-efficiency production of electricity from co-generation and from renewables will not be charged for the time being.

From Wednesday, the maximum permitted margin for retailers at service stations outside the motorway network is being raised from EUR 0.0591 to EUR 0.0983 per litre for diesel, and from EUR 0.0607 to EUR 0.0994 for regular petrol.

This comes after the government, as it reintroduced partial price regulation in June, lowered the maximum permitted margin for until 17 August.