Our country has an Automatic Pricing Mechanism (APM) and petrol station operator are not allowed to determine their own price.Read the full news from Bernama below.
PETROL STATIONS NOT ALLOWED TO SET THEIR OWN PETROL PRICE
KUALA LUMPUR, — Petrol station operators are not allowed to determine the retail price of petrol to avoid differences in prices that can affect the country’s inflation rate, Parliament was told Wednesday.
Deputy Minister of Domestic Trade, Cooperative and Consumerism , Datuk Tan Lian Hoe, said instead petrol prices were fixed through the Automatic Pricing Mechanism (APM) used since March 1, 1983.
She said the objective of the APM was to ensure price and supply stability, control the inflation rate and provide assurance of profits to station operators and oil companies.
“If they are allowed to fix the retail price of petrol, consumers would be paying different rates and the price would go up higher each time crude oil prices rose on the world market,” Tan said.
She said this in reply to Tony Pua (DAP-Petaling Jaya Utara) who wanted to know why petrol stations were not allowed to sell petrol at rates lower than those fixed by the government and the reasons for that.
Expanding further, Tan said among components of the APM were road tax and subsidy.
Subsidy was given when the price was higher than the retail price set after taking into account road tax exemption, she said.
Jom komen!