Economics

When will petrol pump price revert to RM1.92?

By Kit

October 19, 2008

It was only last week that the Domestic Trade and Consumer Affairs Minister Datuk Shahrir Samad said that the price of petrol would revert to the old price of RM1.92 a litre which motorists had enjoyed before the 41% hike in June if the world crude oil price continued to dip to below US$72 a barrel.

At the time (October 10), the crude oil price was around US$88 a barrel.

Over the weekend, the world oil prices closed at a new 14-month low beneath US$70 a barrel, bringing its price to less than half its July record high – dipping to as low as US$68.57 a barrel.

Why hasn’t the petrol pump price reverted back to RM1.92?

Will this be announced tomorrow when Deputy Prime Minister and Finance Minister, Datuk Seri Najib Razak release his economic stabilisation plan to prepare Malaysia to face the world’s worst economic crisis since the Great Depression of the 1930s?

At least the criticisms of the Opposition in Parliament in the past week that Najib should have presented a revised 2009 Budget before the start of a parliamentary budget debate are bearing some fruit.

But will Najib table the economic stabilisation plan in Parliament tomorrow in the form of a Ministerial statement or will Parliament suffer another act of contempt and disrespect by the Barisan Nasional Government?