Finance Minister Marko Primorac said on Tuesday that the energy prices are likely to rise between 10-15% and not by 20% or 30% as some media outlets have been reporting in recent days.

Concerning gas and electricity price subsidies, the government will lessen them gradually.

When we talk about the protection of certain groups of beneficiaries through budgetary funds, we must be aware that it is about the redistribution of budget items, he said.

Primorac explains that there are no more reasons fro the implementation of the full-scale energy price subsidy scheme. Also, in the case of long-term increases in energy prices, households and businesses must become aware of those long-lasting disruptions in the market, while long implementation of the subsidy and protection measures actually  does not motivate them to be economical in consumption of energy and does not encourage them to think of transition to some other forms of energy sources, such as solar panels, and renewables, the minister said.

He reassures the general public that those subsidies will be scaled down in phases.

As for the subsidies for fuels, the minister said that they were totally phased out this summer.

However, the government has continued restricting margins, he added.