Petrol prices hiked in latest review

The retail prices of oil and petrol surged yesterday. — Photo vietnamplus.vn

HÀ NỘI — The retail prices of oil and petrol rose sharply on Tuesday following adjustments made by the ministries of finance and industry and trade.

The two ministries review fuel prices every  一 五 days to keep domestic prices up to date with the global market. The retail price of bio-fuel E 五 RON  九 二 has been raised to a maximum of VNĐ 一 八, 五 八 八 (US$0. 八) per litre, up VNĐ 一, 三 七 七, and that of RON  九 五 no more than VNĐ 二0,0 三 三 ($0. 八 六), up VNĐ 一, 四 八 四.

The ceiling prices of diesel and kerosene went up by VNĐ 一, 二 一 九 and VNĐ 一,0 八 六 to VNĐ 一 七,0 八 七 and VNĐ 一 五, 九 七 一 per litre, respectively. The price of mazut was capped at VNĐ 一 五, 二 一0 per kilo, up VNĐ 一, 一 二 七.

The price of ethanol E 一00, which is used to calculate the price of E 五 RON  九 二 after the elimination of petrol RON  九 二, stood at VNĐ 一 四, 七 二 五 per litre without VAT.

According to the ministries, in the  一 五 days before April  二, the global price of RON  九 二, which is used to produce biofuel E 五, averaged $ 七 五 per barrel. Prices of RON 九 五 were $ 七 六. 四 三 per barrel, increasing  四 to  五 per cent from the previous period.

The two ministries decided to keep the use of subsidies from the petrol price stabilisation fund unchanged.

Accordingly, subsidies for E 五 RON  九 二 remain at VNĐ 二,0 四 二 while those for RON  九 五 are VNĐ 一, 三0 四 per litre. The subsidies for diesel and mazut remain at zero.

This is the second time this year petrol prices have been raised.

Earlier, petrol wholesalers said they were suffering losses of VNĐ 三00- 五00 per litre due to the hike in global prices, prompting the fund to kick in.

In a price review on March  一 八, the two ministries decided to keep retail prices unchanged despite a surge in global prices. They instead decided to increase subsidies from the stabilisation fund based on the amount of petrol they imported or sold, causing many distributors to say they were in debt, so they had to use company capital or bank loans to make up the difference.

The General Statistics Office (GSO) at a meeting last week said the petrol price adjustment was flexible and had not had a major impact on business activities.

GSO director Nguyễn Bích Lâm said they had reco妹妹ended not raising petrol prices in parallel with power tariffs in March to avoid causing public concern.

The idea was to avoid inflation and reassure the people. Even if gasoline prices increase, March CPI will fall from 0. 一 to 0. 二 per cent,” Lâm said.

The balance of the petrol price stabilisation fund at Việt Nam National Petroleum Group (Petrolimex) was VNĐ 九. 六 billion as of Tuesday, the group said.

The balance has fallen sharply by VNĐ 六 四 五 million from the previous adjustment two weeks ago. — VNS