Vietnamese petroleum traders are estimated to have lost VND7.2 trillion (US$450 million) in the first five months of this year, said the Ministry of Finance.
By the end of the third week of May, the Vietnamese government used VND6,333 billion (US$395.81 million) from its coffer to compensate for local traders as part of its efforts to stabilize local market and curb soaring inflation, the Labor newspaper said June 2.
The government forecast that the inflation rate will rise at least 22 per cent this year after having risen 15.69 per cent in the first five months.
The prime minister earlier demanded no petroleum price hikes until the end of June this year and has not yet approved any plan to raise the price from July so as to give priority to inflation fight.
Basing on the January-May figures, the Ministry of Finance has estimated losses to be faced by domestic petroleum traders for the whole year 2008 in different global oil satiations.
If the average global oil price hits US$105/barrel, the loss will be VND14,558 billion (US$909.87 million); the world oil rate rises to US$110/barrel, the loss will be VND22,449 billion (US$1.4 billion).
Vietnamese petroleum traders will endure losses of VND24,381 billion (US$1.52 billion) and VND28,115 billion (US$1.75 billion) in cases that the global oil price climbs to US$115 per barrel and US$120 per barrel, respectively.
The Vietnamese government has to spend over VND40 trillion (US$2.5 billion) per year to compensate for domestic petroleum traders in a bid to curb surging inflation, Prime Minister Nguyen Tan Dung said in a recent statement before the National Assembly.
When the global oil price experienced sharp rise from May 22 to 27 this year, and rocketed to nearly US$133/barrel in recent days, the government’s petroleum compensation has climbed to over VND44 trillion (US$2.75 billion), the Dan Tri Daily quoted the premier as saying. (Labor, Dan Tri)
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