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Vietnam to use subsidy to stabilize oil prices
Vietnam will provide subsidies to its oil product distributors, which are all state-run, to stabilize the market if prices rise too high, Finance Minister Vu Van Ninh said on Wednesday.
"The government will cover the losses incurred by distributors when oil product prices rise too steeply," Ninh told the National Assembly, the country's parliament, in a live television broadcast.
Ninh also said oil product distributors would be allowed to raise or lower pump prices without prior government approval if world crude prices rise by 7 percent or more from Dec. 15.
If world crude prices rise by more than 12 percent, the government would intervene to help stabilize the market through subsidies or lower taxes, Ninh said.
At present oil product distributors must seek permission from the Finance Ministry and the Industry and Trade Ministry to change their pump prices and there is no formal arrangement linking tariffs to world oil price swings.
thanhnien, Reuters
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