Not excluding the possibility of higher oil prices, strictly dealing with speculation and hoarding

On the afternoon of March 14, Deputy Prime Minister Le Minh Khai, Head of the Steering Committee for Price Management, had a meeting with a number of ministries, sectors and localities on the management of prices of a number of important and essential commodities (petroleum, raw materials, etc.) materials, iron and steel, fertilizers, agricultural products, services and medical supplies…).

According to Deputy Minister of Finance Ta Anh Tuan, up to now, the price level is still basically under control. However, the price movements of goods and raw materials in the world continued to increase. This puts great pressure on production costs and supply. Price management until the end of the year is very difficult and must not be subjective.

Deputy Minister of Finance Ta Anh Tuan reported on the price management of a number of important and essential commodities. VGP/Quang Thuong photo

For petroleum products, after a sudden increase in the past 2 weeks, world oil prices have shown signs of slowing down in recent days. However, geopolitical tensions continue to fluctuate rapidly and unpredictably. The parties continue to apply sanctions. In that context, most of the organizations said that oil price could continue to stay at a high level of 110-130 USD/barrel in the coming period. The possibility of oil prices rising to 150 USD/barrel is not excluded.

Emphasizing that domestic petroleum products are currently under great pressure in terms of supply for consumer demand and world price movements, the Ministry of Finance proposed the Ministry of Industry and Trade to continue implementing administrative measures to stabilize supply. . Capturing forecasts and movements of world petroleum prices to have a suitable operating plan. Use a reasonable and flexible price stabilization fund to limit the increase in domestic gasoline prices.

At the same time, organize the implementation and direct the localities to strengthen the inspection and control of the market. Strictly handle acts of speculation, hoarding, taking advantage of petrol price movements to increase unreasonable prices of goods and services…

Petrol price hike puts great pressure on transportation

According to the Ministry of Finance, the increase in petrol prices has put pressure on passenger and freight transport services by road. Currently, transport businesses are calculating to increase freight rates. The Ministry of Finance requested the Ministry of Transport to guide and direct the Department of Transport of provinces and cities to advise the People’s Committee to closely monitor gasoline price movements. On that basis, strengthen the organization to review the enterprise’s price declaration to assess whether the price increase is consistent with the fluctuations of input factors, especially the cost of petrol in the key factors. into price.

The Ministry of Finance said that the price of construction steel in the domestic market may continue to increase due to the cost of raw materials and increased domestic demand when key projects are accelerated. In the coming time, the price of main industrial feed ingredients will continue to increase due to limited supply.

Based on the assessment of the price movements of goods and services in recent years, the Ministry of Finance forecast that the CPI in March may continue to be at a high level because it is mainly affected by the increase in gasoline prices. However, the average CPI in the first 3 months is forecasted at 2-2.1% and still within the price management scenario set out at the beginning of the year.

The Ministry of Finance proposed the provinces and centrally-run cities to perform the state management of commodities according to their competence, strengthen the inspection and supervision of the implementation of the following measures: Declare prices; price listing; publicize information on prices; check the observance of the law on prices.

The Ministry of Finance proposed localities to strictly handle cases of speculation, hoarding goods and unreasonable price increases. Actively check price-forming factors in accordance with the Law on Prices and according to authority when goods have abnormal fluctuations…

According to Luan Dung