Vietnam, Thailand Boost Subsidies as Cushion Against Rising Prices

摘要

With the price of Brent crude still hov- ering around $100 per barrel, Vietnam and Thailand both said on Friday they will hike fuel subsidies in a bid to cushion their populations against rising oil prices. In Vietnam, the finance ministry on Fri- day asked local oil product trading firms not to raise retail prices and said it will partly compensate them with higher subsi- dies from a government fund. Vietnam, which has liberalized its oil product prices, has set aside a fund to cushion the popula- tion against the impact of rising prices. It has also cut import taxes on oil products twice in the past two months in a bid to ease the impact (IOD Dec.27'10,p6).