G.O.B. Says Error by PUMA Led to Increase in Fuel Prices

The cost per gallon of regular gasoline increased sharply at the pumps on Tuesday night, ahead of the overdue arrival of a shipment of fuel from Venezuela the following morning.  While P.M. Barrow was apparently unaware of the sudden upturn, he told the media on Wednesday that he was unable to explain the discrepancy since he had not seen the statutory instrument pertaining to the increase in prices.  Today, the Ministry of Finance issued a release informing that Puma Energy Belize made an error in its invoice and that the rise in cost had nothing to do with the latest consignment to arrive in country.  In fact, Puma’s blunder is proving to be rather expensive, as consumers are forced to bear the cost of that mistake.  The release goes on to say that government approved the price correction after receiving independent verification using petroleum reference prices.