WELLINGTON, Dec. 6 (Xinhua) -- The New Zealand government is "acting on key consumer concerns" about fuel prices, with further investigation following the Fuel Market Financial Performance report released earlier this year.
"The report highlights concerns about the price Kiwis (New Zealanders) are paying at the pump. This was based on the rising levels of importer margins since 2008 and a rising spread of retail prices between Wellington and the South Island and the rest of the North Island," Minister of Energy and Resources Megan Woods said on Wednesday.
The report was an update released by the Ministry of Business, Innovation and Employment (MBIE), which notes that over the last nine years, New Zealand has gone from having some of the lowest pre-tax fuel prices in the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) to the highest.
"MBIE notes that the rise in margins since 2008 represents a transfer of wealth from consumers to producers to the tune of hundreds of millions of dollars," Woods said, adding that the government will continue to monitor the market and explore options for regulatory interventions to enhance competition as required.
