House urges government to cut fuels prices
Thursday, February 26 2009 - 02:34 AM WIB
Zulkifli Hasan, the head of the House's Fuels Inquiry Committee Zulkifli Hasan, said that the proposed prices were feasible in view of the decreasing trend in oil prices.
Zulkifli made the remark after a meeting with Minister of Energy and Mineral Resources Purnomo Yusgiantoro in Jakarta Wednesday.
Purnomo promised to forward the proposal to other ministers, but noted that he disagreed with the propposal, saying the economically feasible price for the fuel is Rp 5,900 per liter.
The fuel is now sold at gas stations at Rp 4,500.
Energy analyst Pri Agung Rakhmanto reminded the House that there should not be political motive behind the proposal to lower the Premium gasoline price.
According to him, cutting the fuel to between Rp 3,900 and Rp 3,500 would not be realistic and risky and could potentially deteriorate economic condition as a whole. ?When the fuel price is cut to that level, this will not be followed by the decline in the price of goods. However, when the price of fuel is raised, this will have a chain effect on the price of goods in which the prices tend to increase like when the fuel price was raised in May 2008,? he argued. (*)