Average-price-display obligation for gas stations kicks in

(ANSA) - ROME, AUG 1 - An obligation for gas stations in Italy to display the average prices of petrol and diesel alongside their over own prices kicks in on Tuesday.
    The government approved the move after a sharp rise in fuel prices after duty reductions to help with the cost-of-living crisis were scrapped at the start of the year.
    The aim is to boost transparency and prevent speculative price hikes.
    On its website the business and made in Italy ministry (MIMIT) has published the national average for motorways and the averages for each region that the gas stations will have to show.
    The average prices for a litre of unleaded petrol at a self-service pump on a motorway is 1.984 euros and it is 1.854 euros for diesel, the site said.
    Unleaded petrol is most expensive in the autonomous province of Bolzano (1.945 euros a litre) and Puglia (1.943 euros).
    Italy's price-monitoring ombudsman Benedetto Mineo said Monday that a recent spike in fuel prices were not determined by speculative hikes.
    "In relation to the fuel prices of the last two weeks, there has been an acceleration in the same direction on the international market," Mineo said. "From this point of view, we have not registered speculation". (ANSA).