|
COPYRIGHT 2005 Asia Pulse Pty Ltd
MANILA, April 20 Asia Pulse - Various transport groups launched a nationwide strike Monday, crippling 90 to 95 per cent public transportation, in a desperate attempt to pressure the government to revive the Oil Price Stabilization Fund (OPSF) and protect the domestic market against fluctuations in oil prices in the world market.
But is this the right path to take when oil prices in the world market are at their record highs? A study by the Asian Development Bank (ADB) suggests that providing oil subsidy is not the solution to higher oil prices, noting that much-needed government resources end up going to sectors that have the capacity to absorb the higher cost of petroleum products, while basic services suffer.
Indonesia, which produced 1 million barrels of oil a day in 2004, spent US .8 billion in government subsidy to keep prices from rising, curtailing much-needed development expenditures.
Malaysia, another oil producer, provided US...
Read the full article for free courtesy of your local library.
|
Bookmark this article
Print this article
Link to this article
Email this article
Digg It!
Add to del.icio.us
RSS
