Economy Minister Tomislav Coric told a news conference on Thursday that household gas prices in Croatia would not change until 1 April 2022.

The correction of the price of gas supplies for households can be expected after 1 April 2022, the minister said, adding that “certain actions in the coming period and bringing more order and stabilisation to gas prices on the global market will result in a much lower gas price rise (in Croatia) than the hikes affecting residents of most EU member states currently.”

Asked by reporters to comment on Zagreb’s Gradska Plinara, the city-run company that distributes natural gas to users in Zagreb, Zapresic and Velika Gorica and the municipalities of Brdovec, Pusca, Marija Gorica and Dubravica, to raise gas prices for the business sector, Coric said that he could not comment on specific business decisions of individual gas supply distributors.

The Jutarnji List daily reported on Thursday that all businesses that obtain gas from Gradska Plinara Zagreb will face a three- or fourfold rise in the gas price after the company’s unilateral decision to increase gas prices, regardless of its contracts with those businesses.

The company decided on this move to avoid a dire financial situation after it had not contracted sufficient gas supplies at lower prices, according to the daily.

Mozemo! party MP urges intervention in gas prices

Earlier in the day, Sandra Bencic, a parliamentary deputy of the We Can! party, said that the government’s decision to cap fuel prices was insufficient and called for its intervention in gas prices.

Speaking on behalf of the Green-Left Bloc in the parliament, she said that the intervention concerning gas and heat prices should be conducted through a reduction of Value Added Tax.