Local motorists could face further fuel price increases in coming weeks as global oil prices continue to spiral out of control, settling at US$128 yesterday.

Errol Edwards, president of the Jamaica Gasolene Retailers Association (JGRA), on Wednesday told The Gleaner that, based on the movement of fuel prices on the international stage, he had expected a marginal increase this week, rather than that day's slight decrease.

Speculators

"We strongly believe that some of the things that are driving the spiralling price of the petrol commodity has to do with speculators in the international market," said the JGRA head. The other aspect of it, he said, is the weakening of the US dollar.

Edwards, however, said local motorists have been somewhat fortunate, as they have been buffered from sharp increases by the benefits of the PetroCaribe deal with the Venezuelan government.

"We have to be thankful locally for what is happening because what we have seen on the international market is that the prices have moved by leaps and bounds in the region of maybe 80 per cent (since June 2007) and our local prices are still within the 40 per cent region," he said.

He noted that the biggest movement was in diesel prices which went up by 66 per cent.

Edwards added: "This is due largely to the PetroCaribe arrangement, so it means that this loan agreement is helping to cushion the impact of the prices to motorists locally."