The Philippine government urged local oil firms on Friday to slash their pump prices as an "early Christmas gift" to the public.
The rollbacks, if the oil companies implement, could serve not only as a Christmas gift but also as their contribution amid the financial crisis that hit major economies in the world, Executive Secretary Eduardo Ermita said in a radio interview.
Ermita met with Energy Secretary Angelo Reyes and Socioeconomic Planning Secretary Ralph Recto at the presidential palace to come up with just "one figure" on how much pump price should be slashed.
On Thursday, major oil firms in the Philippines cut the prices of their oil products by 1 peso (2 U.S. cents) per liter, following the continuing downtrend of world oil prices.
Apparently, the officials are not satisfied with the small rollbacks.
Ermita said more rollbacks are needed given the continuous downward trend of petroleum prices in the world market.
Prices of crude oil slipped further early on Friday to less than 63 dollars a barrel.
Ermita said the government is still waiting for the so-called "Big Three", oil firms, including Petron Corporation, Pilipinas Shell, and Chevron (formerly Caltex), to stay true to their earlier promise to the Energy Regulatory Board about the adjustment of their oil prices.
Earlier, planning chief Recto said that diesel prices could go down to as low as 35.32 pesos (0.73 dollars) per liter and gasoline prices to 40.95 pesos (0.84 dollars) per liter, given the current crude prices.
He said that lower oil prices will "greatly benefit consumers considering that the holiday season is just around the corner."
A huge price cut will also benefit the oil companies themselves, Recto said.
"We know that oil prices contribute to inflation, thus checking inflation and lowering it would help the Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas (Philippine central bank) to improve the cost of borrowing money which will also benefit the oil companies," he said.
Source:Xinhua
|
Comment
Tell A Friend
Print Format
Save Article