Prime Minister Andrej Plenkovic on Tuesday presented the fourth, €1.7 billion package of measures designed to help citizens, institutions and companies, noting that with it, the government wants to respond to the current energy crisis.

The government’s response to the global energy crisis and inflation consists of three elements of aid – mitigating the rise in energy prices, protection against inflation, and special grants and incentives, Plenkovic said.

We continue, as before, with the same political idea – to respond to the crisis we are facing, he said.

“The global energy crisis has caused inflationary pressures, so with the measures we have been taking practically for more than a year, or nearly three years if we take into account the COVID-19 crisis, we want to achieve three fundamental goals – to mitigate the increase in energy prices for the citizens, businesses and all other institutions, to protect them as much as possible from inflation and to give special support and incentives to different target groups in a calibrated manner, so that we help those who are the most vulnerable to the crisis,” Plenkovic added.

The price of electricity for households, the public and non-profit sector, small businesses and entrepreneurs will remain the same until the end of September, while the price of gas will remain the same until the end of March 2024, and until then the application of the reduced VAT rate of five percent for deliveries of natural gas, thermal energy from heating plants and firewood, pellets, briquettes and wood chips will be extended as well.

Excise duties on petroleum products will continue to be reduced, and the Government will also take measures to help the socially vulnerable, those affected by earthquakes, the agricultural sector, fisheries, and transporters, and it will invest in energy efficiency, he said.