Monday, October 16, 2006

Petrol price won’t be reduced

TAPAH: The Government will not reduce the price of petrol despite the global price of crude oil dropping to US$57.24 (RM210) a barrel.

Deputy Domestic Trade and Consumer Affairs Minister Datuk S. Veerasingam said this was because the Government still had to subsidise petrol to maintain the present price.

(Consumers are now paying RM1.92 a litre for petrol and RM1.58 for diesel.)

“With the lower crude oil prices, it means the Government will spend less on petrol subsidy. We hope to accumulate some savings and make up for the loss in income when the oil price shot up early this year,” he told reporters after handing out Deepavali goodies to 300 senior citizens here yesterday.

It was reported that the US crude oil traded at a session low of US$57.24 a barrel on Thursday. Opec had confirmed that production was in excess of one million barrels a day.

In March, the Government decided to increase petrol price by 30 sen a litre after the crude oil prices soared to US$62. 91 (RM232) a barrel.

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