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UPDATE 1-Colombia cuts fuel prices as truckers plan strike

Published 04/21/2009, 10:31 AM
Updated 04/21/2009, 10:56 AM

(Adds comment from truck drivers' union)

BOGOTA, April 21 (Reuters) - Colombia will lower fuel prices, President Alvaro Uribe said on Tuesday as the country's truck drivers pressed ahead with threats of a strike over what they call the high cost of gasoline and diesel.

"Given that international oil prices remain below expected trends, the government is revising domestic fuel prices," Uribe said in a televised address.

Gasoline and diesel prices will go down in Colombia by about 17 cents per gallon starting next month. But the country's main truckers' union called that an "insignificant" reduction and vowed to go ahead with a strike set to start at midnight on Tuesday.

Gasoline in Colombia costs $3.11 per gallon on average and diesel costs about $2.60 per gallon.

A prolonged lull in trucking could slow coffee and other commodity exports and increase inflation by squeezing food supplies in this Andean country, even as the economy gets dragged down by the global financial crisis.

The drivers' union also says the Uribe administration has not delivered on promises of increasing freight fees paid to truckers. (Reporting by Hugh Bronstein; editing by Jim Marshall)

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