The Star: Brace for petrol hike

[acbc]

And now, the end is near,
And so I face the final curtain.
My friends, I'll say it clear;
I'll state my case of which I'm certain.

By WONG SULONG and B.K. SIDHU

KUALA LUMPUR: With the festive and holiday season effectively over, Malaysians are facing up to the prospect of some unpleasant news; namely another rise in oil prices.

Last year, the Government increased the retail prices for oil products three times, the last time on July 31, when the price was marked up by 10 sen a litre for petrol and 20 sen a litre for diesel.

At that time the authorities warned Malaysians to expect further oil price increases in the future as the increases imposed so far did not commensurate with the rise in the price of crude oil on the world markets.

As a result the Government had to dig further into its coffers to further subsidise Malaysians for the relatively cheap oil on the retail market. Current government subsidies on oil products are in the region of RM15bil a year.

Since the last price increase, world oil prices have shown few signs of easing up. The price has surged since last December driven by political uncertainties in the Middle East, the nuclear standoff between Iran and the West, and increased consumption due to a bitter northern winter.

With oil prices now back to levels of over US$65 a barrel, private sector economists and analysts say it’s a matter of time before the Government decides on another price increase to alleviate its subsidy burden.

A few months ago, it was hoped that the world oil price would ease a little to average US$40 a barrel for 2006, but several international studies conducted recently predict that the world oil price will remain high for 2006, averaging above US$50 a barrel.

“It’s almost inevitable that it (the oil price increase) will come soon.

“The question is the quantum” one economist told The Star.

“The Government could not sustain the subsidies even be-fore the recent hike in world oil prices. I am surprised at how it is sustaining the subsidies.

“It’s about time retail oil prices are increased to ease the Government’s burden” said the chief analyst of a large Malay-sian bank.

Within the Government there are two views on the prospective price increase.

The majority view is to maintain the current policy of staggered price hikes so that the impact on the population would not be as painful as it would if the Government decides on the full increase at one go – as was the case recently in Indonesia.

However, there is a minority view which is in favour of the Government biting the bullet rather than prolong an unpopular decision.

“It’s never easy. The Govern-ment has to look at the prospective retail oil price increases from all angles – inflation, impact on the poorer sections of society and government revenues – and has to come up with a formula that balances all these considerations,” said the economist.

 

[Kopi]

i dun wanna say G sux anymore coz it's gonna be as useless as the same... time to change car with hybrid tech or just forget the EVOing my car and get an NGV system instead.

 

[PocketRocket]

time to work harder...if wanna keep my car =(

 

[jeremy]

future mod would be to find solution to inprove fuel efficiency rather than acc or top speed.....

 

[BLaCkHoWLiNG]

have u noticed the big big big big advertisement boards they put beside the road stating how much our G has subsidised our petrol price? dat's like preparing the meat on the chopping board before cooking

 

[SataniC]

aihhh....like this must set revcut at 4000rpm onry...dang

 

[BLaCkHoWLiNG]

i rev cut @ 3k rpm long time ago.. ekekeke

 

[Kopi]

have u noticed the big big big big advertisement boards they put beside the road stating how much our G has subsidised our petrol price? dat's like preparing the meat on the chopping board before cooking

Yeah... juz to tell the G is 'doing' a very very good deed for the people and the people should replay them. i wonder what election are for anyway... *sigh*

 

[PocketRocket]

maybe its just a game for all m'sians to participate...like in school,sports day...red house,blue house,yellow house,green house,purple house n all...

 

[scoupe]

how come petrol prices always go up and never come down. when i was on holiday in aus i notice petrol prices can gou up and down. today 1 dolar tomorrow could be 90 cents. why not here too?

 

[prodigy]

The writings are on the wall. Brace for a price increase sometime soon.

Lets play the guessing game, how many cents it will go up this time?

I'm guessing 5 cents.

 

[infernaL]

and when's the next election ?

 

[acbc]

how come petrol prices always go up and never come down. when i was on holiday in aus i notice petrol prices can gou up and down. today 1 dolar tomorrow could be 90 cents. why not here too?

Problem is... if G-man didn't fix the price, petrol will be at least RM 4 per litre and price depends on the local market.

Petronas is no help either because they rather sell overseas n make more money than to sell local n make less.

Who suffer? The poor la. The rich no issue even at RM 5 per litre.

 

[ehaab]

damn not again...

 

[PocketRocket]

when petrol go to rm3/litre, im changing to a bike

 

[PocketRocket]

scoupe....aus is diff...the price depends on the district area...say the closer u are to a main city,the higher petrol is...the further like countrysides...the cheaper..they go by postal codes or sumfin like that.maybe one station is a dollar per litre,the next petrol station 5mins away but closer to the city/town is 2ocents or more cheaper

 

[digitalcom]

and when's the next election ?

i also waiting & wishing for a new & better PM

 

[xtremeleo]

guys, what i heard was dat after CNY there will be no subsidy for petrol or diesel anymore. anybody heard d same thing? dis news came from a very reliable source

 

[TiBuN]

if that's the case, won't there be a riot ?
Suddenly no subsidy, the poor how ? sudden increase of expenditure but increment only 2% per annum....

 

[Zeroed]

Subsidise not the petrol, tax not the cars... hah. Wishful thinking.


Impossible to have the subsidies completely removed la. The already bad economy will be severely impaired by that. Unless its really some good for nothing akupunysaudara's plan.