Gas prices in Jamaica are currently just below the world average, with Jamaican motorists paying US$0.94 per litre of gasolene — four US cents below the world average of US$0.98 — according to GlobalPetrolPrices.com.

Jamaican gasoline prices rank alongside India and Jordan, and just below St Kitts and Nevis, with a price of US$0.95.

The price of oil on the world market has been declining to reach a 13-year-low recently of below US$30 per barrel. As a result, the price of gas in Jamaica has been falling – although in Jamaican dollars the decline has not been as radical. Some gas stations now sell gas for less than $100 per litre, as was the case earlier in 2015.

In fact, the local currency price for a litre of gas stood at an average of $112.58 this week, according to GlobalPetrolPrices.com, but declined by 10.8 per cent over the past three months.

That rate of decline compared to the highest rate of decline of 16.5 per cent for Cape Verde in Africa and the highest rate of increase of 20 per cent for Ghana. Even with the decline, at US$1.03 a litre of gas still costs more in Cape Verde than Jamaica – but it is cheaper in Ghana, where gas costs US$0.91 per litre.

In a Jamaica Observer report seven months ago, Jamaica’s gas price was US$1.21 per litre and 10 cents above the then world average of US$1.11 per litre. Jamaica was then ranked with countries such as Burkina Faso (now at US$1.19) and Bangladesh (now at US$1.22).

But even though Jamaica’s prices are about equal to the world average, Jamaican prices are high for the North American region.

Lowest is the United States with a price of US$0.59 per litre, followed by Puerto Rico (US$0.60), Panama (US$0.66), Guatemala (US$0.70), Mexico (US$0.78), Canada (US$0.80), Nicaragua (US$0.81), Haiti (US$0.81), St Vincent (US$0.86), Honduras (US$0.89), Aruba (US$0.90), Trinidad and Tobago (US$0.90) and Dominica (US$0.93).

Other regional countries with higher gas prices than Jamaica include: Costa Rica (US$1.01), the Dominican Republic (US$1.03), Suriname (US$1.05), St Lucia (US$1.09), Cayman (US$1.10), Antigua and Guyana (US$1.11), the Bahamas (US$1.14) Belize (US$1.23), Grenada (US$1.21) and Cuba (US$1.33).

The most expensive gas in the Caribbean area is Barbados (US$1.37).

“The average price of gasoline around the world is US$0.98 per litre,” GlobalPetrolPrices.com says. “However, there is substantial difference in these prices among countries. As a general rule, richer countries have higher prices while poorer countries and the countries that produce and export oil have significantly lower prices.”

The differences in prices across countries are due to the various taxes and subsidies for gasoline, GlobalPetrolPrices .com says.

“All countries have access to the same petroleum prices of international markets but then decide to impose different taxes. As a result, the retail price of gasoline is different. In some cases, like Venezuela, the government even subsidises gasoline and therefore people there pay close to nothing to drive their cars.”

Venezuela has the cheapest gas on Earth with a price of just US$0.02 per litre, followed by Libya (US$0.14) and Algeria (US$0.21). The three countries with the most expensive gas are: Hong Kong (US$1.82), the Netherlands (US$1.67) and Norway (US$1.61).

Meanwhile, it’s a slightly different story for diesel.

With a global average price of US$0.85 per litre, Trinidad and Tobago has the fifth lowest global price for diesel according to GlobalPetrolPrices, at US$0.23 per litre. Jamaica, with a price of US$0.84 per litre is just below the global average, but ranks below several Caribbean regional states, including Aruba, Dominica, Haiti, the Dominican Republic and Puerto Rico.

At US$1.19 per litre, Cuba has the highest price for diesel in the Caribbean region. Globally Israel has the most expensive and the UK the second highest, at

US$1.52 and US$1.51 per litre.