Yangon (AsiaNews/Agencies) Myanmar's military junta announced yesterday it is raising fuel prices by 736 per cent in an apparent attempt to curb black-market sales and raise prices to reflect global oil prices
The price increasefrom the equivalent of US$ 1.16 to US$ 9.70 a gallon (about .56 a litre) of petrolwill take effect today.
The price increase was not officially announced by state media, but drivers learned of the change via notices posted at the fuel pumps watched over by police to prevent vandalism.
The move is apparently aimed at preventing car owners and black-market vendors from taking advantage of a petrol-rationing system that has been in effect in the capital, Yangon, since 1980.
Under the system, car owners receive a ration book that allows them to buy 227 litres of petrol a month, but those who do not use their full quota often sell the excess fuel on the black market.
Myanmar's fuel prices are lower than those in many other countries, held down by government subsidies that have become increasingly difficult to sustain amid soaring global oil prices. However, despite the subsidies, fuel is relatively expensive for most people in Myanmar.
"At the new rate, I have to pay 9,000 kyat [] every time I fill my quota," said Hla Myint, a government worker who said he earned 12,000 kyat a month.
Higher fuel prices often presage increases in the prices of basic commodities, because the cost of transportation also goes up, so there were an unusually high number of people at Yangon markets yesterday buying staples such as cooking oil, onions and rice.