Kathmandu, February 14:

Nepal Petroleum Dealers’ Association (NPDA), the association of distributors of petroleum products, has yet to decide the ‘retail prices’ of petroleum products as per government’s announcement yesterday.

The government has yesterday announced the deregulation of petroleum prices. The association has adopted various provisions to be considered like purchasing price, insurance, shrinkage, transpor-tation charge, dealers’ commission, difference in VAT and working loss while fixing retail prices of petroleum products.

With the new provision, the price of diesel and petroleum products’ may go up, informed Shiva Prasad Ghimire while talking to The Himalayan Times. Appreciating the government’s move Ghimire said that the distribution of petroleum products would be applicable across the country.

NPDA has stated that they would properly utilize this opportunity for the larger benefit of consumers.

Nepal Oil Corporation (NOC) has decided to fix the retail prices in customs points and depots. After the new arrangement, the prices of the petro-products will fluctuate as per the global market prices, Ghimire said. The prices of petroleum products may differ location-to-location as various component are being incorporated in pricing factor, according to the dealers.

Petroleum dealers have said that it would help the NOC to recover its losses which it has been incurring since long. NOC is incurring a loss of over Rs 45 million per month, thanks to its traditional pricing mechanism.

The government’s announcement seems to be moving towards making the market competitive. The price adjustment mechanisms would be as per the international trend, according to the dealers. “Currently the price of petrol stands at Rs 67 per litre while diesel costs Rs 46 per litre. With the deregulation of prices, it is certain to rise.”