Petrol, Diesel Down 10 Sen

PUTRAJAYA, Sept 24 (Bernama) -- The price of petrol and diesel will be reduced by 10 sen to RM2.45 and RM2.40 per litre respectively beginning Thursday, according to Prime Minister Datuk Seri Abdullah Ahmad Badawi Wednesday.
He said the retail price of RON92 petrol will also be reduced from RM2.40 to RM2.30 per litre.
Abdullah disclosed this in a media statement read by Domestic Trade and Consumer Affairs Minister Datuk Shahrir Abdul Samad, here.
Abdullah said the new price adjustments took into consideration the actual petrol price between Sept 1 and 22.
He said although the world oil price had dropped slightly, the value of the ringgit against the United States (US) dollar had also weakened resulting in the 10 sen reduction being the maximum that the government could give.
Abdullah said the decision on the fuel price reduction was made today as the Cabinet meeting this morning was the last one for September and it was also to usher in the Hari Raya Puasa which is expected on Wednesday.
"The government is also aware that the public will be making their journey to their hometown to celebrate the Hari Raya at the end of the week.
"Thus, the government hopes the price reduction would ease the burden of the people, especially in celebrating the Aidilfitri," he said.
The price reduction is the second after the last reduction on Aug 23.
In the reduction earlier, the retail price of RON97 petrol was reduced by 15 sen from RM2.70 to RM2.55 per litre while RON92 was reduced by 22 sen from RM2.62 to RM2.40 per litre. The diesel price was reduced by 8 sen from RM2.58 to RM2.50 per litre.
Meanwhile, Shahrir said that according to the average price for fuel for the period, the government could actually reduce the price by seven sen only.
However, he said the government had given a subsidy of three sen per litre to enable the people to enjoy a price reduction of 10 sen per litre beginning tomorrow to ease their burden.
On top of the three sen, the government had given a subsidy of 30 sen for every litre OF petrol sold in the country since last June, he said.
Shahrir said he did not foresee the possibility of the fuel supply being affected as the reduction did not cause any loss to traders, except for a little reduction in their profit margin.

tunku : we were hoping for at least 15 cents but 10 cents is better than nothing.