Friday, August 1, 2008

Price of petrol will be streamlined from Sept 1, says PM

Price of petrol will be streamlined from Sept 1, says PM

PUTRAJAYA, Aug 1 — Effective Sept 1, the retail price of petrol will be streamlined and based on the average monthly market price with the government maintaining the subsidy rate at 30 sen per litre, Datuk Seri Abdullah Ahmad Badawi said today.

The Prime Minister said following the move, the retail price of petrol will be fixed on the first day of each month.

"The government also gives an assurance that the retail price of petrol will not exceed RM2.70 a litre this year," he said in a statement to the media.

He said the government was making the revision after studying in detail the price movement of crude oil of late, which was on a downward trend and dropped to US$122 (RM390) a barrel on Tuesday.

In June, the average crude oil price was US$132 a barrel and the government subsidised petrol by 64 sen a litre.

According to the statement, the world crude oil price was US$125 a barrel when the government restructured its oil subsidy scheme with petrol getting a 30 sen a litre subsidy.

On June 8, the price shot up to US$139 a barrel (USD1=RM3.24).

Although the price of petrol should have been further increased by another 40 sen a litre, the government took the decision to maintain its price and on June 11, gave an assurance the price of petrol would not see any more hike this year, said Abdullah. — Bernama

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