Govt increases POL prices (7:30 pm)

Government has increased the price of the petroleum products effective from Friday evening.

According to the information given by the spokesperson of the Nepal Oil Corporation (NOC), Mukunda Dhungel, the dealership price of petrol has been fixed at Rs 80 per liter, diesel and kerosene at Rs 56 per liter and cooking gas at Rs 1,000 per cylinder. However, subsidized kerosene would be available at Rs 50 per liter for poor and students. The rate of air fuel has been fixed at Rs 76.38 per liter (US$876.16 per kl).

He said this price was effective for Kathmandu and there would be slight differences of prices in other parts of the country.

Dhungel said the price was increased as per the decision of the NOC management committee held on Friday.

Earlier, the retail price of the petrol was Rs 67 per liter, diesel Rs 52, kerosene Rs 46 and LP gas Rs 900 per cylinder.

President of the Petroleum Dealers' Association Shiva Prasad Ghimire said the retail price of the products would be around 3 percent more than the dealership price. Dealers are given 3 percent commission of POL products.

He hoped adulteration in diesel would end since the price of diesel and kerosene has been fixed as equal.

He said since dealers have no hand in determination of the POL prices, NOC did not consult with them while fixing the new price. He also denied allegations that they created fake shortage of petroleum products in the market to pressurize government to increase the price of POL products. He, however, said increase in price was necessary to control the spills of petroleum products into India.

NOC has been incurring losses of Rs 830 million per month with unprecedented price hike in the international market. Recently, the team of Indian Oil Corporation (IOC) held discussion with NOC officials and supply and finance ministers and asked to repay the debt immediately. NOC owes about Rs 8.7 billion debt with IOC and another Rs 3.5 billion with the private banks in the country. nepalnews.com ia Aug 18 06

Related news
- Government indifferent to NOC losses