It’s confirmed. Effective Sept 1, the retail price of petrol will be based on the average monthly market price of world crude oil with the subsidy rate mantained at 30 sen per litre. Attached is an estimation on how the price is calculated based on the crude oil price as of 1st of August (taken from The Star).
It was decided that the retail price of petrol would be fixed on the first day of each month under the new mechanism. The government also again gives an assurance that the retail price of petrol will not exceed RM2.70 a litre this year. According to the statement, the world crude oil price was USD125 a barrel when the government restructured its oil subsidy scheme with petrol getting 30 sen a litre in subsidy.
On June 8, the price shot up to USD139 a barrel. Although the price of petrol should have risen further by 40 sen a litre to RM3.10, the government decided against it and guaranteed that there would be no more increases this year. The average crude oil price in June was USD132 a barrel and the government subsidised petrol by an average of 64 sen a litre.
But guess what? Just when we thought better days are ahead, price have risen by USD5 today due to recent ‘worries’ over the issues in Iran. When the price is going down as there is less uptake by consumers, there are ‘forces’ working in the background towards making the price higher again! Sheesh…
