"There will be a decrease in the price of fuel in the coming weeks and these prices will continue to fall which motivates a "decrease in support" by the executive, said Finance Minister Fernando Medina.

The official stressed that fuel prices "are already below what the levels were before the war", so there will be a reduction in discounts on the taxation of diesel and petrol and an update on carbon tax, since "the environmental component had been suspended in relation to the taxation of fuels".

Asked about the evolution of fuel prices, the minister assured that they are "always evaluating the trajectory", so this will be taken into account in the face of an increase in markets.

"We are following the situation. We have to concentrate support in the areas that are most important", concluded Fernando Medina.

On April 28, the Ministry of Finance announced that the rebates on Fuel Tax (ISP) will decrease in May to 30 cents per litre for diesel and 31.6 cents for petrol, from the current 34 cents, and that the carbon tax will be gradually updated.

In a statement, he explained that the reference price of diesel and petrol is currently below the price that justified the initial mitigation measures at ISP level and that fuel consumption in the first quarter of 2023 reached the record of the last decade.

In addition, he pointed out that fuel taxation in Portugal "is significantly below the weighted average" of Europe.

The Ministry of Finance explained, that therefore "the Government will proceed to do a gradual unfreezing of the update of the addition on CO2 emissions [carbon tax]", indicating that, in this way, it pursues environmental objectives and gradually aligns the weight of fuel taxes in Portugal with the average of the euro area.