The government is providing some oil importing companies with at least 50% of foreign currencies they need to procure oil from abroad.
“This is a short-term measure to ensure people have enough fuel to use,” Minister of Industry and Commerce Khampheng Xaysompheng said on Tuesday. “As for the medium-term measure, the government will negotiate with new oil exporting countries.”
Meanwhile, as for the long term measure, the government will provide oil importing companies with 100% of the hard currencies they need to ensure oil supply meets domestic demand.
The Lao PDR imports 100% of its fossil fuels from abroad, including Singapore, Thailand and Vietnam.
Rising oil prices in the world market, wide gap between official and parallel market exchange rates, and Covid-19 restrictions have led many companies to losses.
Fuel shortage in the country is also attributed to smuggling, hoarding and failure to comply with the government’s guidelines on fuel prices of some petroleum companies as well as the lack of hard currencies in the country.
Source: Lao News Agency
