Praia, March 12, 2026 (Lusa) - Cabo Verde's government announced measures on Thursday in response to the global threat of rising energy prices, including the temporary suspension of price updates and a reduction in fuel taxes.
"The measures are ready to be implemented to protect families and businesses if domestic prices are affected by abnormal increases resulting from external inflationary impacts on energy," said Prime Minister Ulisses Correia e Silva in a statement to the country regarding the war in Iran and the crisis in the Middle East.
These measures include the temporary suspension of the price update mechanism, with compensation to oil companies for the resulting deficit; the application of a discount equivalent to the VAT increase resulting from the rise in the price of imported fuel; and the reduction of taxes on petroleum products.
The measures may be applied individually or progressively, depending on the impact of the energy crisis on domestic fuel prices.
He added that the country monitors the international fuel market daily through a permanent technical team coordinated by the Minister of Industry, Trade and Energy.
The Minister of Industry, Trade and Energy, Alexandre Monteiro, said that the country currently has sufficient stock to meet demand and that resupply is proceeding normally.
"The logistical availability of products in Cabo Verde is not affected by the situation in the Middle East. We import products from Northern Europe, Africa and Central America, so logistics are not impacted," he explained.
Domestic prices for petroleum products are set monthly by the regulatory authority, based on developments in the international market, using the Brent barrel as a reference, and there is still a margin of more than two weeks until the next update, scheduled for 1 April, he said.
According to the minister, compared to the last five years, the current situation has not yet reached the peak levels of the Ukraine crisis in 2022, although there is uncertainty about how prices will evolve.
The United States and Israel, which had already fought a 12-day war against Iran in June, launched a new wave of attacks on 28 February, justifying themselves with the inflexibility of the Islamic Republic's political regime in negotiations to end uranium enrichment in its nuclear programme, which it claims is for civilian purposes only.
In retaliation, Iran restricted traffic in the Strait of Hormuz and launched attacks on targets in Israel, US bases and other infrastructure in the region, including Saudi Arabia, Bahrain, the United Arab Emirates, Qatar, Kuwait, Lebanon, Jordan, Oman and Iraq.
Incidents involving Iranian projectiles were also reported in Cyprus, Turkey and Azerbaijan.
Since the beginning of the conflict, more than 1,200 civilians have been killed in Iran, including Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, the supreme leader of the Islamic Republic since 1989, whose position has since been taken over by his second son, Mojtaba Khamenei.
RS/ADB // ADB.
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