The Ministry of Finance (MoF) has asked its Pricing Management Department to keep a close watch on the global oil prices which are falling sharply to lower the domestic retail prices.

In the first half of May, global oil prices went down by between 4.7-6.9 percent compared to April, depending on specific types of oil, according to the market watchdog.

Wholesale petrol&oil companies said over the past month they have on average pocketed between VND700-1,500 in profit from selling a litre of petrol.

The figure even amounts to more than VND2,000 at the moment as a litre of imported petrol has dropped to VND20,000 compared to the fixed selling price of VND22,300 on the domestic market.

Thanks to a high profit, petrol&oil companies have raised commissions and offered promotions to agents.

A representative of a wholesale petrol&oil company said they are awaiting moves from the MoF, which is expected to adjust retail petrol prices shortly.

It is the ‘favourable’ time to slash retail petrol prices and the MoF is watching market fluctuations to come up a decision soon to harmonise the interests between the State, consumers and businesses, said a MoF official. 

Source: VOV