VINACHEM

Accordingly, petrol retailers will get VND2,000 per litre against the current VND1,000 from the Price Stabilisation Fund. The compensation rate for oil will be also increased to VND650-1,150 per litre from the current VND400-700.

Petrol companies recently asked the Ministry of Finance for a price increase, saying that they were suffering losses of roughly VND850 per litre due to the global price hike.

But on Tuesday, the Prime Minister announced that instead of raising prices, the Government would use the Price Stabilisation Fund and other financial measures to compensate petrol retailers for their losses and keep the domestic petrol price stable despite global changes.

He also instructed relevant authorities to monitor petrol prices continuously in both domestic and global markets.

According to the Ministry of Finance, the Vietnamese petrol price is currently about VND2,000 per litre lower than that of China, VND4,000 lower than that of Laos and VND5,300 lower than the price in Cambodia.

Industry insiders estimated if retail petrol prices were increased by VND1,000 per litre as proposed by petrol businesses, March’s consumer price index (CPI) would rise an additional 0.1 per cent.

CPI growth in February was much lower than in previous years, according to the General Statistics Office. But the index still increased 2.59 per cent in the first two months of the year, meaning it would still be hard to meet the Government’s goal of keeping CPI under 6.5 per cent. — VNS