![](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/04\/fuel.jpg\"\/)
<\/p>\n\t\t\t<\/p>\n
The inclusion of more recent international price data, particularly from late March, to calculate the fuel prices for April, has effectively brought forward the domestic impact of global price increases.<\/p>\n
These are the sentiments of Asia Pacific Regulatory Centre senior advisor and consultant, Joel Abraham.<\/p>\n
Abraham says this is not a trivial adjustment; it is a shift that carries real consequences.<\/p>\n
There is a public outcry after local motor spirit and diesel prices increased by 25 to 30 percent this month.<\/p>\n
Article continues after advertisement<\/p>\n
Fiji\u2019s existing fuel pricing framework has historically incorporated a lag of typically around two months between movements in international benchmark prices and domestic price adjustments.<\/p>\n
Abraham says this is not an accident of design.<\/p>\n
He explains that it serves a critical function as it creates a buffer against immediate volatility; provides space for businesses and households to adjust; and, most importantly, it gives the government time to respond deliberately, rather than reactively.<\/p>\n
Abraham adds that under normal circumstances, the current global price escalation would have been expected to meaningfully reflect in domestic prices closer to May.<\/p>\n
He states that a one-month window between emerging global signals and full domestic impact was not merely a technical delay. It was policy space.<\/p>\n
According to Abraham, what appears to have occurred in the most recent price determination is a compression of that space.<\/p>\n
Abraham says this shift carries real consequences as households will experience cost-of-living pressures earlier; businesses will face immediate cost escalation; inflationary pressures are accelerated; and critically, the government loses valuable time to calibrate its response.<\/p>\n
Abraham stresses that the issue is not whether prices should increase; they must, given global conditions.<\/p>\n
He states that the issue is that the timing of this increase has removed a critical window that the government had to respond in a coordinated and measured way.<\/p>\n
He states that that window, approximately one month, may seem insignificant, but it is not.<\/p>\n
Abraham states that in that time, the government could have finalised a structured fuel price smoothing approach, which it has already started; engaged industry stakeholders more comprehensively; aligned fiscal, regulatory, and social protection responses; and communicated a unified national strategy.<\/p>\n
Instead, he says that the shock has arrived earlier than anticipated.<\/p>\n
According to Abraham, that window was not idle time; it was an opportunity for alignment, consultation, and preparation.<\/p>\n
He stresses that its removal constrains policy at precisely the moment it is most needed.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The inclusion of more recent international price data, particularly from late March, to calculate the fuel prices for…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":359800,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[11],"tags":[138,219,111,139,69],"class_list":["post-359799","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-economy","tag-business","tag-economy","tag-new-zealand","tag-newzealand","tag-nz"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/359799","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=359799"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/359799\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/359800"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=359799"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=359799"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=359799"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}