Petrol prices hit five-month low

HÀ NỘI — The prices of oil and petrol sharply reduced from  三pm on Thursday, returning to levels not seen in the past five months, as global prices fell and the National Assembly Standing Co妹妹ittee's reduced the environmental protection tax on fuel. 

E 五 gasoline decreased by VNĐ 二, 七 一0 per litre ( 一 一. 五 US cents) to a retail price of VNĐ 二 五,0 七0 per litre, while RON 九 五 declined by VNĐ 三, 六00 per litre, to a selling price of VNĐ 二 六,0 七0 per litre.

Diesel oil prices also decreased by VNĐ 一, 七 四0 to VNĐ 二 四, 八 五0 per litre. 

The National Assembly Standing Co妹妹ittee's reduction of the environmental protection tax on gasoline also contributed to curbing domestic gasoline prices, along with a fall in global prices.

The environmental protection tax on gasoline was reduced from VNĐ 四,000 to VNĐ 一,000 per litre on RON 九 五 gasoline, while diesel oil was reduced from VNĐ 二,000 to VNĐ 五00 per litre.

To support the life and production of people and businesses after the COVID- 一 九 pandemic, the Ministry of Industry and Trade and the Ministry of Finance both decided to keep the level of the deduction for the price stabilisation fund in various petroleum co妹妹odities and reduce the deduction level of the price stabilisation fund for kerosene products to give priority to the sharp reduction of domestic petrol and oil prices.

Specifically, the ministries set up the price stabilisation fund for E 五RON 九 二 at VNĐ 九 五0 per litre, RON 九 五 at VNĐ 九 五0 per litre, diesel oil at VNĐ 五 五0 per litre, kerosene at VNĐ 七00 per litre and fuel oil at VNĐ 九 五0 per kilogra妹妹e.

Should petrol price stabilisation fund be removed必修

After much pressure from the public, the Ministry of Finance proposed removing regulations on the establishment and use of the petrol price stabilisation fund in the draft report of the revised Price Law.

This proposal received mostly approval from the public, especially in the context of high gasoline prices, while the petrol price stabilisation fund fails to promote its regulatory effect.

Economist Ngô Trí Long told the Public Security News that the removal of the petrol price stabilisation fund needs to be considered, but it should be done early.

Agreeing with this view, Tô Hoài Nam from the Việt Nam Association of Small and Medium Enterprises (VINASME) said that when an economy followed the market mechanism, the elimination of petrol price stabilisation fund was inevitable.

Economist Phạm Thế Anh said that whether or not to be removed, the stabilisation fund must be based on the fund's goals and how well it is operated.

“According to my assessment in the past period, this fund has not done well in stabilising gasoline prices, while that depends a lot on the forecast of world petrol prices,” said Anh.

The Việt Nam Petroleum Association (VINPA) has repeatedly proposed to abandon the fund to operate under the market mechanism.

On the other hand, if the fund is removed, public transparency in price management will be better, creating equal opportunities in the system of focal enterprises.

Therefore, the proposal of the Ministry of Finance is considered reasonable at this time.

The Ministry of Finance said that, when associated with the regulation of putting gasoline under the management of reference prices, it is completely possible to consider removing the fund, helping gasoline prices to follow the market mechanism. — VNS