Despite the continued decline in world crude oil prices, the domestic petrol price is likely to remain unchanged in the near future, an official from the Ministry of Finance said.
 |
| Motorists buy petrol in Ha Noi. Despite the continued decline in global crude oil prices, the domestic petrol price is likely to remain unchanged. —VNA/VNS Photo Hoang Lam |
The last increase in domestic fuel prices took place on March 29 when the retail petrol price rose by VND2,000 (nearly USD0.1) to VND21,300 (USD1.03) per litre. The price has remained unchanged since.
A meeting in HCM City last week heard that hundreds of gallons of petrol was being illegally imported across the Viet Nam - Cambodia borderline everyday.
The domestic petrol price is about VND2,000 to VND2,500 per litre higher than in Cambodia, Thailand and Malaysia, which has encouraged smuggling, according to An Giang Market Watch Department.
Nguyen Tien Thoa, director of the Price Management Department under the MoF, also said there would be no immediate change in petrol prices.
"Vietnam has not imported crude oil so world prices of crude oil should not affect local prices," he said, adding that the trade should be in compliance with Government Decree 84.
The decree permits businesses to adjust petrol prices by up to 7 percent when the world petrol prices fluctuates by at least that amount in 30 consecutive days. When the global oil price was rising and falling by between 7 percent and 12 percent, enterprises were allowed to hike prices by 60 percent of the increase, with the remaining 40 percent being offset by import tax adjustments and the fuel stabilisation fund.
The basic petrol price must be based on the average price over the last 30 days, Thoa added.
The average price of A92 from July 9 to Aug 8 was USD123.88 per barrel, while diesel was USD131.04 and kerosene, USD130.52.
Distributors have been selling petrol at VND 21,300 (USD1) per litre, lower than the computed basic price of USD123.88 per barrel.
In the past month, Thoa said the price stabilisation fund, along with import tax adjustments, had helped to keep domestic prices stable.
Meanwhile, the world crude oil price has declined by 10.5 percent since the beginning of last month. Last week alone, the crude oil price dropped by 9.2 percent as investors bartered the commodity away, anticipating another recession that would restrain demand.
The global crude oil declined to USD78 per barrel yesterday after the US\'s credit rating was downgraded by Standard & Poor\'s.
In comparison with March, the global crude oil price declined by USD20 a barrel.
Experts said that as the US economy continued to face difficulties, crude oil prices would continue to decline.
US-based Merrill Lynch earlier forecast that the crude oil price could fall to USD50 a barrel this year.
