Vietnam PM Demands No Power, Coal Price Hikes

Vietnamese Prime Minister Nguyen Tan Dung has recently instructed local businesses not to raise prices of electricity and coal in a bid to curb the escalating inflation, the state-run website www.toquoc.gov.vn reported Monday.

 

The government will not consider increasing power and coal prices at the moment, Dung affirmed at a meeting March 15 in Hanoi

 

The meeting, chaired by the PM and attended by the Deputy PM Nguyen Sinh Hung and leaders of giant state-run corporations and commercial banks, was held to discuss measures on calming down inflation.

 

The Vietnam Coal & Mineral Group (Vinacomin) raised coal price to paper, cement and chemical sectors to VND820,000 a ton of coal dust type 3a, and VND790,000 a ton of coal dust type 3b which are equal to 50 per cent the export prices and 70 per cent-80 per cent lower than the current price for other local consumers, said General Director Tran Xuan Hoa.

 

Coal prices for the electricity sector will be adjusted in accordance with the roadmap to increase the electricity prices, Hoa claimed, adding the prices for electricity plants are equal to 45 per cent of the export prices and 55 per cent of the prices for normal consumers.

 

Meanwhile, authorities gathered at a meeting in Hanoi to discuss plans to raise power retail prices but have not yet decided to bring the rate to VND890/kilowatt hours or VND917 per kWh.

 

A power price regulating roadmap approved by the Vietnamese government said that the average retail power prices will be hiked to VND890 per kWh from July 1, 2008, up 6.6 per cent against the current VND842. (www.toquoc.gov.vn)