Cambodia Lowers Retail Fuel Prices Amid Easing Geopolitical Tensions

Cambodia’s Ministry of Commerce announced on Tuesday (23/6) that the price of regular petrol has fallen by 10.3 per cent to 4,350 riel (1 riel = Rp4.45) or approximately 1.08 US dollars (1 US dollar = Rp17,819) per litre, down from 4,850 riel at the beginning of June. The price of diesel now stands at 4,250 riel per litre, a decrease of 12.3 per cent from the previous 4,850 riel, according to the announcement. Fuel prices in Cambodia remain higher than before the outbreak of conflict in the Middle East at the end of February, when both petrol and diesel were priced at only 3,850 riel per litre. Thong Mengdavid, deputy director of the China-ASEAN Studies Centre at the Cambodia University of Technology and Science, stated that this gradual price decline signals a positive trend for the local economy as geopolitical tensions in the Middle East subside. ‘As a major oil-importing country, this development will soon reduce the inflationary pressures faced by local farmers as well as the logistics and transport sectors,’ he told Xinhua. ‘Going forward, the government’s policy of subsidising retail fuel through customs duty exemptions and value-added tax (VAT) reductions remains an important fiscal cushion for long-term economic resilience and growth,’ Mengdavid said. The Southeast Asian nation is entirely dependent on imported crude oil and diesel, as its offshore oil reserves remain untapped.