Following announcements that fossil-fuel subsidies will be phased out, from the G-20, the Asian-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) and a number of independent countries, including Iran, Nigeria and Bahrain, Subsidy Watch has decided each month to highlight important news stories that touch on this theme… 
 
1 September  Angolan authorities reduce fuel subsidies, increasing prices of gasoline and diesel by 50% and 38% respectively, reports Reuters news agency. The country is said to spend around US$ 4.8 billion on fuel subsidies annually. Its current goal is to reduce this spending by an average of 20% each year and to reinvest the savings in improving living standards. It also aims to liberalize its upstream and downstream oil markets. Later in the week, further coverage from Reuters adds that the move will lead to a rise in taxi fares, with one commentator speculating that the price rise could be as high as 100%. It is thought that this could trigger protests, as many poor Angolans rely on 14-seater taxis in order to get to work.
 
3 September  Finance Minister Olusegun Aganga announces that Nigeria's government intends to invest NGN 10 billion (around US$ 660 million) in a mass transit system for the poor and then remove subsidies on domestic fuel prices by the end of 2011, reports news website Bloomberg. The moves would see gasoline prices rise by around 80-90%. According to the article, central bank Governor Lamido Sanusi has estimated that the cost of fuel subsidies in 2010 will amount to US$ 3.4 billion, over a quarter of the budget deficit, and the government is already said to be engaged in talks to gain the support of labour unions. According to newspaper the Saturday Tribune, Finance Minister Aganga also announced that work was underway to create a Nigerian sovereign wealth fund by October.

5 September  The United States' Energy Information Administration (EIA) provides news website Emirates 24|7 with analysis concluding that a number of countries in the Gulf region will be forced to do away with energy subsidies because of shortages in their gas supplies, brought on in part by the artificially low pricing and in part by increased economic activity and large investments in new infrastructure.
 
6 September  The organisation representing Nigerian workers, the Nigeria Labour Congress (NLC), speaks out against the government’s plan to reform subsidies, according to news service the Pan-African News Wire. The group's official statement objects: "We wish to make it abundantly clear that the implications of the removal of subsidy go far beyond the question of availability of mass transit system or whatever amount of money government would be saving". The NLC further admonish the government for not having engaged with all stakeholders and argue that the most serious challenge to the Nigerian oil sector is corruption. They warn that if subsidy reform goes ahead, they "will not be able to guarantee industrial peace in the country".
 
7 September  Mozambique announces plans to introduce subsidies on virtually all basic necessities, including energy, in the aftermath of serious riots incited by rising living costs, reports US news network CNN.
 
7 September  According to the AFP news service, Iran's main audit body "slams" the government's plan to reform subsidies, on the basis that it will lead to a rise in prices, contributing to the country's existing problems with inflation and potentially causing serious political disputes. The plan, backed by Supreme Leader Ayatollah Khamenai, is set to be implemented later in the month, at which time compensation payments will be distributed to a significant percentage of the population in specially set-up bank accounts. The article states that the exact size of the payments has yet to be announced.
 
8 September  Indonesian state oil company Pertamina announces that its program to convert kerosene users to liquefied petroleum gas (LPG) has saved IDR 21.38 trillion (around US$ 2.4 billion) since 2007, reports the Jakarta Globe. The next day, an opinion piece run by The Jakarta Post argues that the Indonesian President's intention to increase the price of 3-kilogram liquefied petroleum gas (LPG) canisters must be combined with policies to support the poor households that are unfairly affected by this change. The reason for the move is reported to be a number of recent deaths due to people trying to inject LPG from subsidized 3-kilogram canisters into non-subsidized 12-kilogram canisters.
 
9 September  Finance Minister Ernesto Cordero tells a news conference that Mexico will continue to eliminate its costly fuel subsidies, reports Reuters news agency. The subsidies, on transport, heating and cooking fuel, are reported to have already cost US$ 2.7 billion in 2010, and are expected to amount to US$ 1.3 billion next year. The Finance Ministry has confirmed, however, the prices will remain below international levels in 2011.
 
13 September  According to newspaper the Business Standard, the Indian government launches its pilot program to provide LPG to families below the poverty line. Minister of State for Petroleum Jitin Prasada announces that the scheme will be rolled out on a country-wide basis from 14 November.

14 September  IEA Chief Economist Fatih Birol says that oil prices are likely to rise as the global economy recovers, in part due to subsidies dampening the price signals that normally keep rising demand in check, reports Reuters news agency. Birol also identifies rising production costs and demand growth more generally as chief factors in the expected price increases.
 
15 September  News agency AFP reports that Iran's scheduled price reforms have been postponed for at least a month, despite plans to begin implementation by late September. According to the article, the Iranian government has still not released the details of its plan or the eventual price rises, although speculation abounds, with some Iranian citizens recently claiming to have received electricity bills with seven-fold price increases. It is said that the exact date for implementation will be decided by the President.
 
16 September  News website euobserver.com reports that there may be a "realistic chance" for the EU to extend Germany's deadline on the dismantling of coal subsidies from 2014 to 2018. According to EU energy commissioner Guenther Oettinger, "if there is a credible end [to the subsidy policy], then Germany could still get an extension". Such a decision would require the support of the EU's competition ministers.
 
16 September  Minister of Energy and Mineral Resources, Darwin Zahedy Saleh, announces that the Indonesian government will begin restricting the supply of subsidized fuel from next month through a "soft campaign", reports news website TempoInteractive.com. The following day, the International Monetary Fund (IMF) releases a series of reports which find that one third of total central government spending over the past decade went to fuel subsidies, according to the Jakarta Globe. The IMF describes this allocation of funds as "inefficient, inequitable and environmentally unfriendly".

18 September  The federal government of Pakistan assures the IMF that electricity subsidies will be withdrawn, according to Geo Television Network.

19 September  Newspaper The Mercury reports that the Australian government may be wasting money by subsidizing  the electricity bills of households in the state of Tasmania that remain unconnected to the gas network. According to TasGas retail manager Russell Reid, of the 100,000 households promised connections in 2003, around 67,000 households are still waiting, with network expansion having ground to a halt. He argues that the cumulative cost of compensating disadvantaged households could have paid for the completion of the original commitment within three years.
 
23 September  The Royal Automobile Association of South Australia Inc. (RAA) criticises the decision of Australian state Port Augusta to abolish a subsidy scheme targeted at petrol purchased more than 100 kilometres from Adelaide, arguing that this will unfairly affect people who can least afford increases in the cost of goods and services, reports online newspaper The Transcontinental. Government representatives defend the decision, saying it will save AU$ 50 million over four years and follows many other states that have also abolished their petroleum subsidies. 
 
29 September  The European Commission agrees to let Spain ensure that electricity producers will purchase some of their energy input from domestic mines, after weeks of strikes, according to news agency AFP. Mining companies claim that they have been unable to pay their workers as a consequence of a government decision to end aid in February this year.

30 September  An international group of senior financiers and leaders of powerful energy companies collectively blame oil and gas subsidies for the clean-energy industry's difficulties in recovering from the global economic crisis, reports the New York Times. One of the group, Mr. John Browne, stated, “No politician can stop subsidies to fossil fuels overnight, but I think governments could be levelling the playing field a great deal faster”. 
 
1 October  The Indonesian government announces that it will indefinitely postpone plans to limit the distribution of subsidized fuels, reports The Jakarta Post in a scathing editorial. The paper describes the government as "weak" and the House of Representatives lacking "the political courage to bite the bullet". It concludes, "As long as the government and parliament are not united in their aims and do not have the political will to gradually phase out energy subsidies, the state budget will never be able to allocate a sizeable sum for investment in such key sectors as education, health and infrastructure.”
 
2 October  Economy and Finance Minister Shamseddin Hosseini announces that compensation payments as part of Iran's program to phase out subsidies on food and energy will begin on 7 October, reports news website Bloomberg. Around 80% of the population is said to have applied for the payments, but it is still unknown how many people will qualify or how much they will receive. The timing and the size of the subsidy cuts are not known, although the government has previously announced its intention to save US$ 20 billion in the first year of the phase-out. According to Middle East division of Yahoo!, Yahoo! Maktoob, the head of Iran's Transport and Fuel Management Office has said that the biggest cut in the first phase will be on car fuel.
 
4 October  According to AFP news agency, Malaysia has said it would consider cutting its diesel subsidy next year in order to make its biofuel industry more attractive. 
 
4 October  Trinidad and Tobago's Prime Minister Kamla Persad-Bissessar reveals that the country will have spent US$ 2.7 billion on gasoline subsidies in 2010, reports Trinidad Express Papers. She stressed that the government was not considering reform, but wanted to encourage the use of compressed natural gas (CNG) to help reduce the subsidy burden. 

5 October  Ghana Business News runs an analysis of Ghana's problem with LPG shortages, focusing on two of the suggestions that have been made to resolve the issue: banning the use of LPG in vehicles and removing LPG price subsidies. 

6 October  In an article in bimonthly magazine The Broker, Mark Halle, director of trade and investment at the International Institute for Sustainable Development (IISD), advocates for the phase out of fossil-fuel subsidies, arguing for a collaborative approach among a broad range of international actors, including the G-20, APEC, the group of fossil-fuel subsidy reform 'Friends' and non-G-20 governments.

14 October  The Global Subsidies Initiative (GSI) and the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) hold a two-day conference on fossil-fuel subsidy reform, at the World Trade Organisation (WTO) in Geneva, Switzerland. The AFP news agency reports on the event, picking up on the introductory words of WTO Deputy Director General Harsha Vardhana Singh, "Fossil-fuel subsidy reform is undoubtedly one of the major tools in the hands of the international community to fight climate change". The event was attended by representatives from a number of G-20 countries and a number of international organisations, including the OECD, APEC, the World Bank, WTO and the German technical institute GTZ, as well as non-governmental organisations Earth Track, Oil Change International and farmsubsidy.org. All of the presentations are available on the GSI's website.
 
14 October  According to weekly online newspaper Al-Ahram the debate over subsidy reform in Egypt has moved from 'if' to 'how', in its summary of a workshop organised by the Egyptian Centre for Economic Studies (ECES). Magda Kandil, Executive Director of ECES, said the richest one fifth of the urban population currently benefits from 33% of fuel subsidy spending, while the poorest urban quintile benefits from only 3.8%, and suggested various strategies that might be used to begin reform. Three days later, website Biyamasr covers the release of a recent World Bank report concluding that nearly half of all subsidies in Egypt go to the richest 60% of the population.
 
15 October  Malaysian Prime Minister and Finance Minister Najib Razak presents a 2011 budget plan that would see subsidies on fuel and other essential goods and services fall by 4.9%, reports news website Bloomberg.

19 October  Iranians households begin receiving the first cash payments organised by the government as compensation for upcoming price increases, according to news website Bloomberg. The state-run news agency Mehr is said to have announced that eligible households in three provinces will be credited with US$ 80. A few days later, the Tehran Times reports that Mohammad Hassan Abutorabifard, Deputy Speaker of the Iranian parliament, has urged high-income families not to apply for the payments, in order to make more support available for low-income families.
 
20 October  Taxi drivers' associations and unions complain to the Taiwanese government over its decision to stop subsidizing gasoline-LPG hybrid vehicles next year, having previously encouraged their purchase, reports newspaper the Taipei Times.

23 October  News website Istockanalyst reports that the Indian government has released US$ 2.24 billion to compensate state-run oil companies for losses borne in the first half of the fiscal year due to fuel subsidies. The companies originally requested US$ 3.36 billion, which they claim is equal to 50% of the revenue they have lost.
 
23 October  A G-20 meeting of Finance Ministers and central bank Governors in South Korea publishes its communiqué, saying, "We noted the progress made on rationalizing and phasing out inefficient fossil-fuel subsidies and promoting energy market transparency and stability and agreed to monitor and assess progress towards this commitment at the Seoul Summit."
 
24 October  The IMF releases a Regional Economic Outlook for the Middle East and Asia, in which it estimates that the United Arab Emirates' implicit fuel subsidies equal 7-8% of its GDP, reports news website Emirates 24|7. According to the article, the IMF recommends that countries reform these subsidies, though in a way that minimizes the impact on the poorest parts of society. 

26 October  According to a Time Magazine article, the distribution of compensation payments to Iranian households is still ongoing, but the money – now sitting in specially created bank accounts – cannot be withdrawn until the government specifies. It reports that apprehension has been growing about the reforms, due to the lack of information about the size and timing of price increases, and the repeated delays. A range of goods are already said to have increased in price between 5−20%, in anticipation of the subsidy cuts.
 
29 October  The Global Subsidies Initiative releases a policy brief in anticipation of the up-coming 11–12 November G-20 Summit in Seoul, summarizing activities to date regarding the organisation's agreement to phase out and rationalize inefficient fossil-fuel subsidies that lead to wasteful consumption. The brief outlines a roadmap for progressing with reform and recommends six actions that G-20 members could take to deliver on their commitment. It is available on the GSI's website.

31 October  In a television interview, Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad calls on the Iranian people to brace themselves for an "economic revolution", and explains that the lack of information about reform plans is part of the government’s strategy to prevent hoarding in anticipation of price changes, reports news website Bloomberg. Still no concrete details are given about the time or size of subsidy cuts.
 
For readers interested in keeping track of fuel-pricing developments worldwide, GTZ's monthly Fuel Price News is an invaluable resource that announces publications and events, and major fuel-pricing news stories in different regions of the world. For more information see: http://www.gtz.de/en/themen/29957.htm