Fuel Prices in Bulgaria and the Balkans: How Much Do We Really Pay?

A recent survey by bTV examined fuel prices in Bulgaria compared to several neighboring Balkan countries, including Greece, Serbia, Romania, Turkey, and North Macedonia. The goal was to highlight how much Bulgarians pay for gasoline and diesel while converting prices from other countries into Bulgarian lev (BGN) for easier comparison.

In Bulgaria, the price of A95 gasoline is 2.38 BGN per liter (about €1.22). Among the countries surveyed, Greece has the most expensive gasoline at 3.31 BGN per liter (€1.70), followed by Romania at 2.94 BGN (€1.51) and Serbia at roughly 2.90 BGN (€1.49). North Macedonia shows a price similar to Bulgaria, at 2.37 BGN (€1.21), while Turkey has the cheapest gasoline at 2.18 BGN (€1.12).

For diesel, the most expensive is in Serbia, where one liter costs 3.36 BGN (€1.72). Romania follows with 3.09 BGN (€1.58), Greece with 2.91 BGN (€1.49), and Bulgaria at 2.46 BGN (€1.26). Diesel is cheapest in Turkey at 2.34 BGN (€1.20) and in North Macedonia at 2.29 BGN (€1.17).

Dimitar Hadzhidimitrov from the Association of Bulgarian Traders, Producers, Importers and Transporters of Fuels urged the government to allow diesel exports to help lower regional prices slightly. He also called for careful monitoring of crude oil imports at the Burgas refinery, emphasizing the importance of preventing Russian oil from being processed there. Hadzhidimitrov reassured the public that fuel supply is not at risk, citing refinery capacity as sufficient, and advised citizens not to stockpile fuel unnecessarily.

The comparison focused purely on prices, without analyzing income-adjusted affordability across the countries.