The Nepali government on Friday decided to raise the prices of petroleum products effective from Friday evening.

According to spokesperson of the Nepal Oil Corporation (NOC) Mukunda Dhungel, the price of petrol has been fixed at 80 Nepali rupees (1.14 U.S. dollars) per liter, diesel and kerosene 56 rupees (0.8 dollar) per liter for the dealers to be distributed from the Kathmandu depot.

The retail prices are yet to be decided. However, the retail price of liquid petroleum gas (LPG) has been lifted to 1,000 rupees (14.28 dollars) per cylinder. Due to transportation costs, the retail price of LPG could differ at some places. Retail customers in Kathmandu can buy petrol at a price of 84 rupees (1.2 dollars) per liter.

According to the Petroleum Dealers' Association, it will disclose the retail prices soon after calculating the transportation charges.

Meanwhile, the Ministry of Supplies has clarified that the NOC, after suffering a daily loss of 30 million rupees (428,571.4 dollars) reaching a whopping 1.1 billion rupees (15.7 million dollars) was stuck in a position of not being able to import petroleum products any more. Hence the ministry went for a price hike.

Source: Xinhua