The price of petrol may have reached a historic high but the treasury is not benefiting from the increase, finance minister Jan Kees de Jager said on Friday.

In fact, the treasury may actually be missing out because the high price could force people to use their cars less, the minister was quoted as saying by news agency ANP.
The unrest in the Middle East is forcing up petrol prices.
Petrol currently costs around €1.70 a litre. According to a spokesman for garage owner association Bovag, 99.5 cents of that goes to the treasury. Petrol station owners earn between 10 cents and 13 cents a litre.