Petroleum traders in Vietnam December 10 decided to lower domestic retail prices by between 7.69 per cent and 8.33 per cent per liter as global oil price plunged around US$40 per barrel in recent weeks, the Ministry of Finance said.
From late afternoon of December 10, a liter of A92 and A95 gasoline was reduced by VND1,000/liter or 8.33 per cent and 8 per cent to VND11,000/liter, and VND11,500/liter, respectively.
Prices of kerosene and diesel were also slashed by VND1,000/liter or 7.69 per cent to VND12,000 and by 8.33 per cent to VND11,000/liter, in turn.
This is the tenth petroleum price reduction in the Vietnamese market since local government decided to offer market-driven price determination for petroleum traders from September 16.
However, the current retail petroleum prices in Vietnam are still too high when compared to the global crude oil price, Dr. Nguyen Minh Phong from the Hanoi Socio-economic Development Institute said.
Phong added that as the world oil price stood at US$45/barrel, the true retail price including import tax, special consumption tax, value added tax, and add-on fees should be VND 8,000-VND9,000/liter only.
Analysts meanwhile believed that global oil price will keep decreasing, possibly to US$25/barrel, due to the spreading global financial crisis.
On the same day, the ministry decided to raise import tariffs of gasoline, kerosene, mazut, and jet fuel by 5 per cent to 40 per cent, the maximum import level for petroleum products permitted by the state. The import tax for diesel was also increased to 25 per cent from current 20 per cent.
The new import taxes will be applied from December 11.
Vietnam spent US$10.55 billion on importing 11.8 million metric tons of petroleum products in the first eleven months this year, up 58.3 per cent on year in value and 3.1 per cent in volume. (Local sources)
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