„We remain a country with by far the lowest prices in the region when it comes to petrol and diesel.” That was Prime Minister Hristijan Mickoski, adding that the government is monitoring oil on world markets and will react if needed, as it has before.

The statement came just as the neighbourhood was signalling a jump. In Croatia, petrol stations were already rationing fill-ups ahead of a significant price rise announced for Tuesday.

A low price, or lost revenue?

Here is the part worth looking at from both sides. The opposition SDSM recalls what happened the last time the price was held artificially low: by cutting VAT on fuel, Macedonia turned into the region's petrol station. Neighbours drove in, filled their tanks and left, while the budget lost a share of the tax revenue that was meant to fund wages, pensions and investment. In their telling, citizens got temporarily lower prices that soon climbed back.

This is a party critique and has to be read as one. But the mechanism it describes is real and easy to verify - when one country in the region has a price significantly below its neighbours, the cars at the border are not a coincidence.

Tariffs, in the same statement

At the same press conference Mickoski also spoke about trade with the United States. Macedonia, he says, is not covered by the new additional American tariffs of 10 to 12.5 percent imposed on 60 countries. „We are in the group of states that did not get additional tariffs, but that does not mean we trade with the US tariff-free”, the prime minister clarified. The government says that after negotiations the initial 33 percent tariffs were reduced to 15 percent, followed by adjustments in line with global decisions in the US.

So, two things in one appearance: fuel on which we remain the cheapest in the region, and tariffs that have not been abolished but have not been raised either. Both presented as good news.

The price at the pump is a number every driver sees every week and can hardly be disputed. The question rarely asked is what it costs to hold that number down and who pays for it - the budget, through lower revenue, or the consumer later, when the price climbs back. The answer will show up on the revenue side of the budget, not in press releases.