Customers buy petrol at 1 Tran Quang Khai Street in Ha Noi. The prices of petrol and diesel begin increasing at 2pm on Wednesday. This is the fifth hike of petrol and gasoline since early this year. —Photo Minh Tri

HA NOI (Biz Hub) — The Ministry of Finance on Wednesday allowed petrol distributors to increase prices of petrol to a maximum of VND584 (2.78 cent) to VND24,214 ($1.15) per litre.

The hike began at 2pm.

Meanwhile, the price of diesel fuel was raised by VND653 per litre to VND22,963 and gasoline by VND384 to VND22,404 per litre.

Vietnam National Petroleum Group, which holds more than 50 per cent of the market share, reported its hike of petrol Ron 92, which has been raised to VND24,210 per litre.

The ministry also asked businesses to stop drawing out from the nation's price stabilisation fund for petrol and diesel. Before the hike, businesses were allowed to dip into the fund to offset losses of VND200-300 per litre of petrol and diesel, respectively.

As for gasoline, businesses will continue using the fund at VND700 (3.33 cent) per litre because sales are low and businesses have been selling gasoline at a loss, with a selling price lower than the base price.

By December 10, the nation's price stabilisation fund for petrol and diesel was VND72 billion ($3.42 million).

This is the fifth hike for petrol and gasoline since early this year. There were also six price reductions during 2013.

The new price for petrol is still lower than the record price of more than VND25,000 per litre set in March this year.

Since November, the ministry had repeatedly emphasised that the petrol and gasoline businesses had been suffering losses due to the world's price fluctuations. It is estimated that 70 per cent of the petrol in the local market was imported, so retail prices depended heavily on global fluctuations. — VNS