Government Will Raise Pertalite And LPG Gas Prices, Observer Disagrees: Let People Breathe First

Illustration. (Photo: Doc. Antara)

JAKARTA - The government through the Coordinating Minister for Maritime Affairs and Investment Luhut Binsar Pandjaitan some time ago gave a signal about plans to increase the price of fuel oil (BBM) such as Pertalite to 3 kilograms of LPG gas after raising the price of Pertamax in line with rising world oil prices.

In response to this, Energy Watch Executive Director Mamit Setiawan revealed that he did not agree with the government's plan to raise fuel prices again in the near future because it was considered burdensome to the community.

"I don't agree with this plan. Let the people breathe first to improve their economy until they are ready to accept the increase in subsidized goods," Mamit told VOI, quoted Wednesday, April 6.

Mamit further explained that the community had just experienced an increase in the price of several commodity goods so that it would add to the burden on the community.

He admitted, indeed, the increase in world oil prices and CP Aramco has added to the burden on state subsidies, be it electricity subsidies, LPG, or fuel compensation costs.

"The government can allocate the windfall obtained from the increase in commodity prices to cover the burden of subsidies," he added.

In the future, he continued, one of the efforts to prevent LPG and pertalite subsidies from falling is to conduct closed subsidies and no longer distribute subsidies to goods but to people in need.

"I think the data can be improved and currently the best data is PLN's data for electricity subsidies of 450 VA and 900 VA. PLN has the infrastructure down to the bottom in supervising this electricity subsidy," he said.

In addition, Mamit continued, he appealed for cross-ministerial and institutional cooperation, especially the Ministry of Transportation (Kemenhub) and the Korlantas Polri in listing vehicles that are suitable for using subsidized fuel.