PHNOM PENH, Nov. 11 (Xinhua) -- Retail fuel prices in Cambodia declined noticeably on Wednesday due to easing global crude oil costs, according to a Ministry of Commerce announcement.
The ministry reported that the price of regular gasoline dropped 13.7 percent to 1.07 U.S. dollars per liter, down from 1.24 dollars at the start of the month. Meanwhile, diesel prices fell 6.4 percent to 1.30 dollars per liter, down from 1.39 dollars.
Despite the recent drops, domestic fuel prices remain higher than they were prior to the outbreak of the Middle East conflict in late February, when both gasoline and diesel cost 0.95 dollars per liter.
Thong Mengdavid, deputy director of the China-ASEAN Studies Center at the Cambodia University of Technology and Science, noted that the drop in fuel prices would help ease transportation and supply chain pressures.
"One of the key reasons is that crude oil prices and shipping logistics have stabilized somewhat compared to peak volatility earlier in the year," he told Xinhua. "Additionally, the industry is shifting from summer-grade gasoline toward winter-grade gasoline, which is cheaper to produce."
Mengdavid said that as Cambodia is a heavy net importer of oil, this development will immediately alleviate the inflationary burden on local farmers, as well as the logistics and transportation sectors.
Cambodian Prime Minister Hun Manet said last week that the government has injected more than 600 million U.S. dollars in subsidies to shield the domestic economy from skyrocketing global fuel prices driven by the Middle East conflict. ■