Indonesia to cut fuel import by 30 pct

The Indonesian government will likely cut fuel import by between 30 percent and 35 percent from the current import volume of 300,000 barrels per day, a senior official said Wednesday.

The import cut was proposed to reduce government's fuel subsidy amid the soaring global oil prices, said State Minister for National Development Planning Paskah Suzetta.

"Fuel subsidy fails to give stimuli to export so we must reduce (fuel) import," he told reporters after a meeting with Vice President Jusuf Kalla here.

The government allocated some 45 trillion rupiah (around 5 billion U.S. dollars) for fuel subsidy in the 2006 budget.

Paskah said the fuel import cut was proposed because the government had decided not to raise fuel prices this year despite the sharp hike in global oil price, now hovers around 73 dollars per barrel.

Another move to respond the oil hike is by restricting fuel consumption by private vehicles with engine above 2,000 cc, he added.

Source: Xinhua