Vietnam Petrol Price to Hike If Global Oil Rate Up US$10/Barrel

Vietnam will scale up retail prices of petroleum if the global oil rate goes up US$10 per barrel from July of 2008, Prime Minister Nguyen Tan Dung said at a recent meeting in Hanoi on the matter.

 

The government leader demanded no petroleum price hikes until June of 2008 in order to curb the country’s surging inflation rate.

 

The Vietnamese government agreed to compensate importers for losses, and provide assistance to poor people in remote areas and offshore fishermen who are facing difficulties, Dung attributed.

 

“Petroleum is a national strategic commodity traded under market mechanisms but under the Government's regulation,” Dung emphasized at the meeting. “Petrol trading businesses have to manage supply and demand and be able to increase the reserves under any circumstance,” he added.

 

Dung demanded giving the priority bringing inflation down to a lower rate than last year. Until June this year, the petroleum import tax would be kept at zero per cent, the Prime Minister said.

 

Recently, local petroleum traders decided to raise the retail prices of the fuel by VND1,500 per liter of gasoline to VND14,500 for A92 and VND14,800 for A95; and by VND3,700 per liter of oil, in the awake of the global oil price soar to over US$100 per barrel. (Saigon Liberation)