It is all relative for in Israel, there are smiles over the news that gasoline prices at midnight Monday night (Sunday to Monday) will drop 4.53% to NIS 5.69 a liter.

Based on the Bank of Israel dollar exchange rate at the closing of the day Thursday, 22 Tammuz of NIS 3.82 to one US dollar, that means following the reduction of 27 agorot a liter, gasoline for Israeli motorists will cost $5.95 a gallon, dropping under $6.

While American motorists’ jaws would drop seeing such prices at the pumps, in Israel, where most of the price of a liter of gasoline is one government tax or another, dropping under the six-dollar mark is reason for celebration.

The new price is for 95 octane gas and of course, for self-service. For those who seek full service fill-ups, they will still have to pay over $6 a gallon for that luxury for at the full-service pump, it will cost $6.15 a US gallon.

(YWN – Israel Desk, Jerusalem)