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Since 2020, fuel and lubricant prices for personal transport in the EU have shown significant volatility. Annual inflation rates were negative in May 2020 (-19.5%), but started to rise sharply in 2021, reaching +33.4% in November of that year. The peak came in June 2022 (+39.2%) and then started to decelerate, turning negative in 2023. These variations reflected the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic and the Russian invasion of Ukraine.
In June 2023, the inflation rate for fuels and lubricants was at a low of -15.7%, but volatility has become less pronounced in recent months with smaller monthly price changes. This has been the case in 2024. In August 2024, fuel and lubricant prices were 6.1% lower than in August 2023.
If we focus specifically on diesel and gasoline since 2020, the data show that prices last August were 7.4% and 5.5% lower than in the same month last year, respectively. Since 2020, the highest price increases were observed in June 2022, +45.2% for diesel and +35.7% for petrol. While diesel price increases were generally lower than those for gasoline, diesel prices rose faster than gasoline prices between September 2021 and March 2023. From this month onwards, diesel price increases remained below those of gasoline, however, the situation reversed again in June, July and August this year.
Most EU countries have negative inflation rates for fuels and lubricants.
In August 2024, 24 EU countries reported negative annual rates of change or lower prices than in the same month of the previous year. Sweden (-20.7 per cent) recorded the largest drop, followed by Belgium (-8.9 per cent) and Slovakia (-8.4 per cent). Meanwhile, Slovenia (-2.0%) and Poland (-1.7%) recorded the smallest price decreases. In Malta, prices remained unchanged, and Romania (+2.4%) and Ireland (+4.0%) experienced an increase in the annual rate of change.
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