Tepid Response to Cut-Price Fuel

Representatives of Syrian industry say the government’s decision to cut the price of diesel fuel by 20 per cent is not enough, according to the pro-government website Syria Steps.



After months of pressure from members of parliament and the public, the authorities have agreed to lower diesel prices from 25 lira (50 US cents) to 20 lira a litre.



Diesel is used as a domestic heating fuel, mainly by middle-class Syrians, according to the website.



Prime Minister Naji al-Otari said the decision to reduce prices was intended to curb the smuggling of diesel from neighbouring Lebanon and Turkey, where prices went down recently due to falling global oil prices.



Last May, the Syrian authorities abandoned a longstanding policy of heavily subsidising heating fuel prices. In its place, they introduced a scheme under which each household was entitled to buy a set quota of 1,000 litres a year at nine lira a litre, while any more would have to be bought on the open market at the higher commercial price.



This move was part of a plan by the ministry of economy and trade to phase out subsidies for all petroleum products over the next five years.



Muhammad Nabil al-Jaja, a member of the Damascus Chamber of Industry, said fuel oil prices should be held below 15 lira a litre.



Basel Hamwi, deputy head of the Damascus Chamber of Industry, said in the Syria Steps report that his organisation had prepared a list of businesses that depend on oil, in the hope that the government will reinstate subsidies specifically for them.