According to some estimates of Codacons the increases in petrol and diesel prices would have reached 150 million euros per week in total. Of these, a significant part went to the State, which however had to spend huge funds to cut excise duties and limit the growth of costs for citizens.
The data led Transport Minister Matteo Salvini to ask for the intervention of Business Minister Adolfo Urso, who however responded that prices are already starting to drop. On Saturday 11 April, petrol and diesel costs actually fell for the second consecutive day.
Expensive petrol and diesel, 150 million euros more per week
According to the Codaconson average every week the war in Iran costs Italian citizens 150 million euros more. This is above all the effect of the increase in fuel costs, petrol and diesel, which then have repercussions on a large part of products and services. Of this money, however:
- approximately 88 million euros are collected directly by companies;
- approximately 61 million euros go to the State through taxes.
Taxes in this case do not mean excise duties, which are not in percentage but per liter for a fixed rate. What increases tax revenue in this way is above all VAT, which instead is a percentage and therefore has a higher amount based on the cost of fuel.
For the State, the increase in the cost of fuel is still an expense. The government has in fact used around 500 million euros to reduce excise duties between 18 March and 1 May. Even if the Codacons calculation were valid for every single week of this period, the Treasury would have collected just over 420 million euros, going into the negative by around 80 million.
Salvini attacks Urso on fuel costs
The Codacons data have caused some controversy within the Government. The Minister of Infrastructure and Transport Matteo Salvini has in fact asked for direct intervention from the Minister for Enterprise and Made in Italy Adolfo Urso:
I count on Minister Urso to summon the oil companies, because the companies are very quick to increase prices when there is a problem, but they are much slower to reduce prices when prices fall.
Mimit, however, immediately responded, underlining that prices are already falling:
The oil companies have accepted our exhortation to reduce fuel prices immediately, without delay, formulated at Thursday’s meeting at Mimit, as demonstrated by the drop in prices at the pump recorded in the last two days.
The first drops in petrol and diesel prices
Indeed, April 11, 2026 was the second consecutive day of decline in fuel prices in Italy:
- diesel fell by 1.4 euro cents, to 2.166 euros per liter on average;
- petrol fell by 0.3 euro cents, to 1.790 euros per liter on average.
The reduction in prices came relatively quickly, driven above all by the drop in the cost of oil, which after the two-week truce between the US and Iran reached around 95 dollars a barrel.
