The price of discounted gasoline in Italy has risen 24 cents a gallon for the month of July.

A 100-liter coupon book of unleaded gasoline is being sold for $88 at military exchanges in the country.

That’s the equivalent of $3.34 a gallon, which matched an all-time high reached in September 2006. It’s an increase of 6 cents a liter from June, when prices topped $3 a gallon.

Bart Di Muccio, manager of the Tax-Free Office in Naples, which administers the Navy-run program in Italy, could not be reached for comment Thursday. Many personnel stationed at U.S. bases in Italy had the day off after the Fourth of July.

Each month, the tax-free office sets prices for fuel coupon sales by calculating changes in the barrel price of fuel, fluctuations in the currency exchange rate between the U.S. dollar and the euro, and any gains or losses the Navy Exchange and AAFES incurred in the previous month’s sales, Di Muccio has said in previous stories.

The price of diesel fuel in Italy also rose this month to $83 for a 100-liter coupon book. It was 2 cents a liter cheaper in June.

Americans stationed at military communities in Italy don’t have access to on-base stations and must use coupons at participating Esso or Agip stations in order to purchase gasoline without paying all the taxes that local nationals do.

Those eligible receive a specific amount of coupons per month based on engine size. Most motorists are eligible for 300 liters a month, meaning that the rise in prices will require them to fork over another $18 this month to receive their maximum allotments.

Gas prices in Germany and the United Kingdom, where the Army and Air Force Exchange Service sets prices weekly, will decrease more than two cents a gallon for every grade Saturday.

At the same time, AAFES’ prices in the Netherlands will go up 1.6 cents a gallon for midgrade and 2 cents a gallon for premium.

Prices in Germany and the U.K., meanwhile, have followed weekly U.S. gas price trends, and Saturday’s drop will mark the sixth straight weekly price reduction in those locales.

In the Netherlands, where prices will be set at cost, gasoline costs will increase for the third week in a row.

Diesel prices will go down six-tenths of a cent Saturday in Germany and the U.K., but will increase 1.8 cents in the Netherlands.

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