Ministry Proposes Govt to Delay Electricity, Coal Price Hikes
The Ministry of Industry and Trade has proposed the government of Vietnam to recalculate the prices of electricity and coal to better suit the current economic climate, state-run newspapers reported.
Deputy Minister of Industry and Trade, Nguyen Cam Tu, on behalf of the domestic market management team, sent the proposal to the Prime Minister.
Earlier, electricity price hike had been decided in early 2009.
According to the team, the consumer price index is decreasing but inflation is still high, reducing purchasing power, causing a standstill in production. In such a context, electricity and coal price hikes will lead to a rise in prices of many other goods.
“Raising price of a sensitive commodity like electricity in the current context must be calculated carefully by the government, or else it will contradict the current demand stimulus policy,” said Ha Van Hien, chairman of the National Assemble Economic Committee.
The price of electricity is predicted to increase by a minimum of 20 per cent and a maximum of 30 per cent in 2009-2010.
Currently, electricity prices are around VND850 per kilowatt. (New Hanoi, VietNamNet)
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