Jangi Majeed owns a petrol station in Erbil. He told Rudaw on Saturday that the price of a litre of regular petrol has gone up from around 750 Iraqi dinars to 800 to 810 dinars.
“There is not enough petrol in the market and imports of fuel from Iraq to Erbil are not allowed. Whenever there is such a ban and the locally produced petrol does not meet the demand, the price goes up,” he said.
Baghdad has occasionally imposed bans on exports of petrol to the Kurdistan Region.
This surge in price has not affected Sulaimani and Halabja provinces.
The Kurdistan Regional Government (KRG) provides regular petrol for 750 dinars.
Other types of petrol sold in the Kurdistan Region are enhanced, selling for 1100 to 1200 dinars, and super, which is about 1500 per litre.
The Iraqi government recently increased petrol prices by more than 25 percent, igniting public outcry.
Iraq currently ranks as the 14th country with the cheapest petrol prices around the world, according to the Global Petrol Prices index.
