Moldova to abolish excise taxes on bioethanol.
This proposal was made by the Ministry of Energy as part of the draft budget and customs policy for 2025 in order to stimulate the use of biofuels in road transport, which accounts for about 35% of final energy consumption in Moldova. As noted by the Ministry of Energy, moreover, Moldova has set a goal of achieving 9% of energy consumption from renewable sources in the transport sector by 2030. Thus, the Ministry of Energy proposed to exempt from excise duty ethyl alcohol mixtures used as raw materials in the production of biofuels, such as bioethanol, intended for consumption in automobiles. It is planned that such a change will help reduce fuel consumption at the country level, reduce the environmental impact by reducing greenhouse gas emissions, as well as create new jobs and stimulate the development of the biofuels sector, which is not fully exploited but has great potential. More than 20 thousand tons of bioethanol are produced annually in Moldova; almost all of it is exported. At the same time, in 2023, more than 907 thousand tons of petroleum products were imported. On the European continent, gasoline already contains 6.8% bioethanol, in the USA - up to 10%, and Romania has introduced an obligation to have 10% bioethanol in gasoline and 6.5% in diesel fuel from June 1, 2023. Moldova's energy strategy, adopted in 2013, called for bioethanol to make up 6% of gasoline by 2015 and 10% by 2020, but these targets were not achieved. // 19.06.2024 - InfoMarket.
