The federal government continues to publish incorrect data regarding fuel prices.

During the president’s daily press conference yesterday, the head of the federal consumer protection agency told reporters that a service station in Tlaquepaque, Jalisco, was selling Pemex’s premium brand gasoline for 20.54 pesos per liter.

Ricardo Sheffield Padilla of Profeco said that data gathered throughout the country between April 18 and 24 indicated that the station was in the top 10 for the lowest fuel prices.

But the newspaper Reforma visited the gas station in question and found it has not sold premium gasoline for at least six months, according to an employee.

Two weeks ago President López Obrador presented a list of gas stations offering the lowest gas prices, but some had not even been operating for several months.

The president blamed the Energy Regulatory Commission (CRE) the following day for providing imprecise information, declaring that in future all data would be cross-referenced with that gathered by Profeco “in order to be more precise.”

The president is no admirer of the CRE. It and other autonomous government agencies have been popular whipping boys for López Obrador, who has called them “a great farce” and accused them of corruption. Soon after taking office he accused the head of the CRE of conflict of interest, which the latter denied.

Following a meeting between the two, nothing more has been said about that conflict.

Meanwhile, accurate fuel price information appears hard to get.

Source: Reforma (sp)