ROME, March 8 (Reuters) - Italy is considering cutting fuel excise duties using higher-than-expected value-added tax revenues triggered by rising pump prices, the prime minister said, as businesses warned the conflict in the Middle East could sharply raise energy costs.
Excise duties account for a large share of the pump price in Italy and are levied per litre, not as a percentage of the total price like VAT.
* Giorgia Meloni said the government was studying possibleactivation of so-called "mobile excise duties," a mechanism thatallows the state to use extra VAT receipts generated by higherfuel prices to reduce excise taxes on petrol and diesel. * "The activation has been under review for several days bythe economy ministry," Meloni said in a video message late onSaturday. * Italy's CGIA, a business lobby representing artisans,small and micro-enterprises, estimated that higher energy billslinked to the conflict could cost Italian companies nearly 10billion euros ($11.62 billion). * Consumer group Unione Nazionale Consumatori urged animmediate 10% cut in fuel excise duties. * Small hauliers' group Ruote Libere warned that a 37% riseper litre could add more than 11,000 euros a year in costs foreach truck. * Farmers' group CIA said unjustified fuel price hikes, withagricultural diesel up 30-35%, risk farmers operating at a lossif they don't receive national and EU support.
($1 = 0.8607 euros)
(Reporting by Giselda Vagnoni; Editing by Bernadette Baum)
