At a press briefing held by the Ministry of Industry and Trade (MoIT) in Hanoi on December 2, Nguyen Viet Chien, Deputy Head of the MoIT’s Domestic Market Department, explained the reason and proposed measures to control gas prices.

Chien said he was concerned about the sharp increase in local gas prices that would lead to the use of other kinds of fuel instead.

Chien asked the MoIT to reduce the tax of imported gas from 5% at present to 0% and strictly manage the gas market to prevent speculation in the face of a surge in the global prices since early this year.

The MoIT should work more closely the Finance Ministry to deal with violations by gas traders, he added.

Chien spoke highly of the Government’s Decree 177 as an effective tool for strict management of gas prices in the country.

He affirmed that there’s no speculation or monopoly on a large scale as major businesses cannot make any corrupt use of their lion’s share to violate the competition law.

Chien revealed that the MoIT already put forth a draft decree to replace Decree 84 on oil and gas trading a few months ago and submitted it to the Prime Minister for consideration on November 14.