06/04/2026

BIZ & FINANCE MONDAY | APR 6, 2026

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European drivers choke on rising diesel prices

PARIS: The price of diesel fuel has rocketed by more than 30% across Europe since the start of the Middle East war highlighting the continent’s dependence on imported energy and the lingering prominence of diesel on the car market. The Easter holiday weekend across Europe is expected to see a surge in demand with queues at petrol stations. Diesel has been worse hit than other fuels, and was already under pressure before the war. Experts say its cost will rise further – with a knock-on effect on inflation – as long as trade through the Strait of Hormuz remains blocked. The per-barrel price of diesel rose above US$200 in Europe on Thursday, the highest since March 2022 when Russia’s invasion of Ukraine shook markets. Diesel is ubiquitous in Europe. While electric cars are making inroads in new sales, diesel is still the most widely used fuel. Trucks, farm tractors, buses, building site machinery and even shipping depend on it. Diesel accounted for 86% of transport fuel sales in Latvia in 2024, 73% in France and 66% in Germany, according to FuelsEurope, a trade body which represents the refining industry. The world’s largest economy gained 178,000 jobs in March, after losing 133,000 in February, and the unemployment rate dropped by 0.1% to 4.3%, the Labour Department said. Friday’s data significantly beat analyst expectations, with economists polled by Dow Jones Newswires and The Wall Street Journal expecting an increase of 59,000 jobs. The data was stronger than forecast, “but vastly overstates the sustainable pace of job growth“, said Oxford Economics lead US economist Nancy Vanden Houten. “The end of a strike, seasonal quirks and a rebound after harsh winter weather likely boosted job growth in some sectors,“ she said. Trump touted the numbers as a success. “My Economic Policies have created an enormously powerful engine of Economic Growth, and nothing can slow it down,“ Trump said on his Truth Social platform, hailing the number of private sector jobs gained. Earlier, White House spokesperson Kush Desai said that once the “short-term disruptions” of the US Israel war on Iran are over, “America’s economic resurgence is set to only accelerate.” Markets were closed on Friday in the United States for Good Friday. Much of March’s recovery was fuelled by health care jobs, which have remained resilient even as labour demand has dropped in other sectors. Health care added 76,000 jobs in March, after having lost jobs the month before, in part due to strike actions. Employment in construction also grew by 26,000 in March, although the Labour Department flagged that it had changed little over its level from a year ago.

o Middle East war highlights continent’s dependence on imported energy

cut the taxes they charge on the fuel. “Refineries are working at full capacity,” said an expert at French energy giant TotalEnergies which has six refineries across Europe. “Even with maximum adjustment to our settings, the room for manoeuvre remains minimal” for TotalEnergies, he added. Bell said that if there is a shortage of regular petrol then Europe can cut its exports. But that doesn’t work for diesel. “The most efficient and economical solution for Europe would be to source its diesel from Russia,” said Bell. The EU will not be lifting its sanctions anytime soon however. Postponing refinery maintenance, using strategic reserves, and reducing consumption appear to be the only other ways to partially address the imbalance, she said. – AFP

The European Union is now a net exporter of petrol, mainly to the United States and Africa, but an importer of diesel. Russia was Europe’s main source of diesel until Moscow’s all-out invasion of Ukraine in 2022 set off international sanctions. Now EU nations look to India, Turkey, the United States and Saudi Arabia for supplies. Middle East states provided more than half of Europe’s diesel in 2025 (554,000 barrels a day out of 1.06 million), according to Rystad Energy. About one third of this passed through the Strait Hormuz. Europe is now struggling to find alternatives. Slovakia last month ordered a 30-day restriction on diesel sales while foreigners have to pay more for the fuel there. Ireland and Spain have temporarily

according to government statistics consulted by AFP. The Netherlands has the most expensive diesel in Europe at more than US$2.80 a litre, according to research by the RAC, a British motoring organisation. That is about 20% more than Italy, the cheapest country surveyed by the RAC. Diesel was for a long time cheaper than petrol. At the end of the 20th century, governments and car firms encouraged drivers to buy diesel-engine cars. But not enough refineries were built to keep up with demand for the fuel and in recent years governments have imposed higher taxes on it.

The global supply-and-demand balance for diesel “was much tighter than the gasoline balance going into the war and the subsequent market response has been one of strong gasoil (diesel) price escalation while gasoline’s price response has been somewhat muted”, Susan Bell, a commodity markets specialist at Rystad Energy, a consultancy, told AFP. In Britain, France and other countries, the price of diesel has risen more than 30% since the first US-Israeli air strikes on Iran and resulting choking of the Strait of Hormuz. In France, the price of regular petrol has gone up by just 17%,

America registers strong job growth in boost to Trump WASHINGTON: The US economy posted unexpectedly strong job gains in March, data showed last week, in a development hailed by US President Donald Trump – but seen with caution by analysts. Federal government employment continued to decline, down 11.8 percent since October 2024. Trump has taken a hatchet to the sector in a drive aimed at cost-cutting and reducing the size of government.

The new data reflected a revision in the figures for January and February, showing employment for those two months combined was 7,000 lower than previously reported. The US-Israel war on Iran has engulfed the Middle East, sent oil prices surging and snarled supply chains, leading to fears of a global economic slowdown. Analysts signalled caution as the economic impact of the war begins to hit Americans. Nationwide chief economist Kathy Bostjancic said the March report showed the labour market was in “good standing,“ with “broad-based gains in the private sector.” Oxford Economics’ Houten, however, said the report “doesn’t change our assessment that the downside risks to the labour market have increased” due to the war. “As the labour market softens due to the fallout from the war, we expect the unemployment rate to edge up,“ she said. High energy prices tend to drive up production costs, curbing economic activity, with analysts expecting the current “low-hire, low-fire” trend to continue. “If you look through the noise you have, you know that same picture that we’ve been looking at, which is a labour market that’s holding up, but that has become more fragile, and that remains stuck in this low-hire, low-fire type of environment,” EY Parthenon senior economist Lydia Boussour told AFP. Uncertainty about the war’s economic shock has so far led policymakers at the Federal Reserve to adopt a wait-and-see approach on interest rate moves, as they balance curbing stubbornly high inflation with managing unemployment. Unemployment rates have

A sign posted in front of a business advertises jobs opportunities for drivers in Elk Grove Village, Illinois. – AFPPIC remained relatively steady in the US – but the figure has hidden churn under the surface, analysts warn, as weak jobs growth has been matched by a drop in labour supply. For Federal Reserve policymakers, however, inflation currently appears to be a bigger risk than unemployment.

Fed President John Williams said on Monday. EY-Parthenon’s Boussour said Friday’s report will provide “a little bit of reassurance and a little bit of breathing room for the Fed to focus on the inflation side of their mandate in the coming months”.– AFP

“We are getting mixed signals, with some key indicators showing signs of steadying while others are suggesting a weakening labour market,“ New York

That drop in supply is largely attributed to Trump’s crackdown on migrants.