Inflation hit the price of diesel fuel this week in Rangoon, Burma, with prices shooting up from 3,300 kyat to 3,600 kyat (915 kyat to 1 US dollar) per gallon, according to private fuel stations...
New Delhi (Mizzima) – Inflation hit the price of diesel fuel this week in Rangoon, Burma, with prices shooting up from 3,300 kyat to 3,600 kyat (915 kyat to 1 US dollar) per gallon, according to private fuel stations.
Similarly, the petrol price in the real market in Rangoon rose from 3,000 kyat to 3,400 kyat per gallon.
Private fuel stations can now sell fuel including diesel, high octane fuel and gasoline according to market demands.
For petrol, private stations may now sell at most only four gallons per vehicle at a price of 2,500 kyat per gallon, which is fixed by the authorities, according to a private fuel station owner in Lanmadaw Township in Rangoon.
The scheme is designed to prevent speculators from buying large amounts of petrol at private stations at a fixed price, and then selling it back to customers at higher prices and in greater quantity.
Fuel stations were privatised in June 2010.
Burma imports diesel and high octane fuel from Singapore through the Energy Ministry, which sells petrol to private fuel stations on a ration basis.
Observers say some private fuel stations sell petrol to illegal retailers on the black market because they can get a higher price.
After fuel stations were privatised, some private fuel station operators have been negotiating with each other to fix prices, said a source close to the operators.
The price of crude oil rose on the world market has-been rising, as a result of political unrest in Middle East countries.
All basic commodity prices are rising in Burma, including the price of rice.
Maung Maung Than, a retired rector at the University of Economics, told Mizzima, ‘The high prices will lead to instability in the country’s economy, so it’s not a good sign’.
He said that although fuel stations have been privatised, sometimes the government should control prices to prevent a sudden, dramatic price increase.
According to a wholesale centre of rice and cooking oil in Bayintnaung, the price of peanut oil has increased from 4,000 kyat to 4,300 kyat per viss (approximately 1.5 kg), and the price of ‘Pawsanmhway’ rice has increased from 24,500 kyat to 27,500 kyat per bag (approximately 50 kg).
In August 2007, a 500 percent hike in fuel prices, and increases in other commodities, led to demonstrations in Rangoon and political instability.
