Gulyas: Only Hungarians to buy fuel at capped prices from Friday

Only Hungarian cars may buy fuel at government-capped prices from Friday, cars with foreign number plates will have to pay market prices, the prime minister's chief of staff told a regular press briefing on Thursday. Since Hungarian fuel prices are the lowest in Europe, fuel tourism around the border has grown so it is now threatening uninterrupted supply, Gergely Gulyas said. "Foreign buyers are exploiting the fact that Hungary is able to maintain petrol prices at 480 forints [EUR 1.2, per litre], while they are at 700-900 forints elsewhere in Europe," he said. To prevent such "abuse", only cars with Hungarian registration certificates will be allowed to buy petrol at 480 forint per litre in Hungary. Others will have to pay the market price, he said.