Petrol price stabilisation fund’s public exposure

May 09, 2013 | 11:33

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Deputy Prime Minister Vu Van Ninh has told the Ministry of Finance to publicise the petrol price stabilisation fund’s usage and management data each quarter.

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The fund was established in 2009 and has been used and kept by petroleum traders to offset loses because of fluctuations in market prices. It collects VND300-500 per litre on the retail price of petrol. The move to publicise the data on the ministry’s website will keep petrol buyers in the loop.

However, a lack of transparency in the fund’s usage and management made many people suspicious about its necessity and efficiency.

Ngo Tri Long, former deputy head of the MoF's Market and Price Research Institute, said the main problem was the fund's lack of transparency and the usage mechanisms.

"The current mechanism [where enterprises keep the funds] will lead to the situation where a large amount of money is not used to make profits and that enterprises can use the fund for different purposes which the state cannot control," said Long.

However, MoF Price Management Department deputy director Nguyen Anh Tuan said the fund was now controlled by inter-ministries of Finance and Industry and Trade (MoIT), not by enterprises.

Tuan said that strengthening of transparency of the fund was always its management policy, in which, fund information would be transparent so people and authorities had trust in it.

Meanwhile, the MoIT is coordinating with the relevant ministries to amend Decree 84/2009/ND-CP to propose the government before June 30. Currently, the MoIT established a drafting team to collect opinions from the people about important issues including the fund.

By By Nguyen Trang

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