House speaker advises govt not to raise fuel oil prices

Jakarta, NU Online
House of Representatives (DPR) Speaker Agung Laksono called on the government not to use the option of raising fuel oil prices to resolve the increasing subsidy problem amid the upward trend in crude prices in the world market.

"The people are now already in economic difficulties," the House Speaker said after giving a general lecture at the University of Indonesia in Depok on Wednesday.<>

The government has lately hinted it plans to raise fuel oil prices by about 30 percent and is formulating a direct cash assistance scheme for poor people.

He said the people were facing economic difficulties as their purchasing power had dropped drastically so that their problem should not be made even worse by raising fuel oil prices.

The House Speaker said the government could use other options, for example, approaching world lending institutions such as the World Bank or asking the IMF to reschedule its debts.

"We should try to get whatever they are willing to give so that we will have funds to improve our oil and gas infrastructure," the House Speaker was quoted by Antara as saying.

He admitted that Indonesia`s domestic oil prices much depended on the price of world oil.

Indonesia`s oil production and consumption were quite unbalanced with a production of 925,000 barrels per day while its consumption was 1.4 million barrels per day, Agung said.

He said that 15 years ago, Indonesia`s daily oil production reached 1.4 million barrels while its consumption was only about 300,000 barrels per day. (dar)