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Supplies Secretary Admits Failure to Implement Automatic Pricing Mechanism of Fuel

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Supplies Secretary Admits Failure to Implement Automatic Pricing Mechanism of Fuel
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January 3: Secretary at the Ministry of Industry, Commerce, and Supplies Dinesh Bhattarai has admitted that the automatic pricing system introduced for the price adjustment of petroleum products has not been fully implemented. Bhattarai made such a remark during an interaction program on 'Easy Supply of Petroleum Products and Automatic Pricing System' held in Kathmandu on Sunday in collaboration between the ministry and  the Society of Economic Journalists of Nepal (SEJON).

The government had in September 2014 introduced a policy to adjust the price of petrol, diesel, and other fuel every 15 days in accordance to the international price. As per the policy, the Nepal Oil Corporation (NOC) has been adjusting the fuel price according to the price list sent by the Indian Oil Corporation (IOC) on the 1st and 16th of each month.

Bhattarai said that there is general opposition to the policy for not adjusting the price even if it went down. He said prices were being raised without burdening other dimensions of the economy. "By mobilizing the money in the price stabilization fund, the price of fuel that has gone up for some time can be reduced. Long-term solutions need to be implemented," he said. 

Similarly, General Manager of Nepal Oil Corporation Surendra Kumar Poudel said that the implementation of an automatic pricing system would lead to high losses in some cases, and there could be problems due to lack of preparedness. He said that preparations have also been made to mobilize the amount of price stabilization funds.

NOC had set up such a fund to prevent consumers from being overburdened by the automatic pricing system. Rs 15.34 billion has been deposited in this fund.

Poudel also said that the quality of fuel available in Nepal and India is the same. He also informed that a lab is being set up at Sinamangal in Kathmandu for testing the quality of fuel.

Likewise, Nagendra Shah, acting deputy managing director of the NOC, said that the price has gone up due to various taxes levied in Nepal. However, he said that the price of fuel is cheaper in Nepal than in India. Presenting a working paper, he said that the NOC is now at a loss due to cooking gas rather than petrol and diesel. He informed that NOC has incurred a loss of  Rs 2.30 billion in cooking gas (LPG) at present.


 

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