AMMAN — The Petroleum Derivatives Pricing
Committee at the
Ministry of Energy and Mineral Resources on August 1 raised the
prices of gasoline, diesel, and gas derivatives for the fifth time this year,
drawing consumer dissatisfaction.
اضافة اعلان
Mohammad Ismail,
a private sector employee who uses his car for transportation, said “the high
prices of oil derivatives have decimated us.”
“We are forced to abandon our cars and use public
transportation because the high prices are unacceptable and disproportionate to
the income of the Jordanian citizens,” he told
Jordan News.
Oil expert Amer Al-Shobaki said “the latest hike is
not justified”.
“The government said it intended to increase fuel
prices four times; this hike is the fifth from the beginning of the year, and
according to its statements, there will be two more hikes,” he pointed out.
According to Shobaki, “the price of our gasoline is
higher than international prices, and the taxes imposed on it are very high”.
“The local market cannot bear these prices, which
will contribute to raising the prices of goods and services, as well,” he told
Jordan
News.
Raising the prices of oil derivatives like this
causes an increase in inflation rates, which the governments has been trying to
reduce by raising interest rates, and this puts additional pressure on the
economy and on the Jordanian citizen, Shobaki added.
He said the
International Monetary Fund had asked
the Jordanian government to reduce the tax levied on fuel derivatives, and
completely lift subsidies on crude oil products in line with the provisions of
an economic reform program.
The government acquiesced to these requests, unlike
other countries such as Tunisia and Egypt, Shobaki added.
The latest price rise is as follows: by JD0.035 to
the 90-octane gasoline, making the price of a liter JD0.990, by JD0.060 the
95-octane gasoline, bringing the price of a liter to JD1.3, and by JD0.035 the
price of diesel and kerosene, pushing the price of a liter up to JD0.755.
The price of a gas cylinder, however, remained
unchanged, selling at JD7.
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