Vietnam gasoline price drops for third time after four consecutive hikes

Retail gasoline prices in Vietnam slipped by VND1,330-1,500 ($0.06) a liter on Monday, the third drop after four consecutive hikes since mid-October and the lowest level since March.

RON 95-III gasoline went down to VND21,200 ($0.89) per liter, while E5 RON 92 hit VND20,340 ($0.86).

Diesel oil dipped by VND1,540 to VND21,670 ($0.92). Kerosene slipped by VND1,660 to VND21,900 ($0.92) a liter.

The new diesel oil price is VND470 ($0.02) higher than that for RON 95-III.

As for Monday's price cuts, Vietnamese authorities continued to avoid the Fuel Price Stabilization Fund. Instead, they increased provisions for the fund, from VND200 to VND400 for each liter of RON 95-III and from VND250 to VND300 for each liter of E5 RON 92.

The National Assembly on July 6 adopted lowered environmental taxes on fuel, applied from July 11 till the year-end, amid globally increasing oil prices that put pressure on inflation.

According to the General Statistics Office, the consumer price index (CPI) in November increased by 0.39% compared to October. In comparison to December last year, November’s CPI increased by 4.56%.

Meanwhile, the index in the January-November period rose 3.02% year-on-year. Core inflation increased by 2.38%, which reflects fluctuations in consumer prices mainly driven by the price of food and energy. Core inflation is a measure of inflation that excludes some volatile commodities like food and energy.

Vietnam is facing rising inflationary pressure due to surging prices of energy and input materials and the U.S. Federal Reserve’s interest rate hikes.