Political Yuan: If the cost of oil and gas is not absorbed, 95 yuan of gasoline may exceed 45 yuan and gas will cost more than 970 yuan

The Executive Yuan stated that if oil and gas costs are not absorbed and prices are reflected based on actual costs, it will have a huge impact on ordinary households and related businesses.

In September, the Executive Yuan proposed a supplementary budget for this year, which included an allocation of 180.9 billion to subsidize Taipower and China National Petroleum Corporation, and an additional 233.8 billion to increase capital in China National Petroleum Corporation. The opposition parties threatened to scrutinize the budget. In this regard, Executive Yuan spokesperson Lee Huizhi said at a press conference after the meeting today (1st) that state-owned enterprises have been tasked with stabilizing prices in recent years. If oil and gas costs are not absorbed and prices are reflected based on actual costs, 95 unleaded gasoline may exceed 45 yuan per liter, and household barreled gas may exceed 970 yuan per barrel, causing a huge impact on ordinary households and related businesses.

The opposition party threatened to delete the additional budget allocated to subsidize Taipower, China National Petroleum Corp. and China National Petroleum Corporation, and increase the cash payment to 20,000 yuan. Li Huizhi said that if the additional budget funds are used for cash universalization, it will crowd out important national policies. In this supplementary budget, the funds required to subsidize the insufficient increase are 180.9 billion yuan, which will be used to allocate 180.9 billion yuan to subsidize China National Petroleum Corporation, Taipower and related oil companies.

Li Huizhi said that in the past six months, these industries have cooperated with the government's policy of stabilizing people's livelihood. If state-owned enterprises do not assume policy tasks and do not act as a "price shock absorber", costs will be reflected according to actual prices. In terms of oil prices, 95 unleaded gasoline may reach a maximum of more than 45 yuan per liter, and household barreled gas may exceed 970 yuan per barrel. Both ordinary households and catering operators will be greatly affected.

Li Huizhi emphasized that state-owned enterprises bear the policy task of stabilizing prices, and allocating funds required for insufficient increases through supplementary budgets are important national policies. The increase in investment in PetroChina's governance section is also to promote the natural gas resilience construction plan, help reduce financial burdens, and call on the Legislative Yuan to enter the review of a complete supplementary budget.

Lai Jianxin, deputy minister of the Ministry of Economic Affairs, said that changes in international energy prices not only affect gasoline and gas prices, but will also be transmitted to various people's necessities through transportation and production costs. According to estimates by the General Accounting Office, for every 10% increase in oil prices, the Consumer Price Index (CPI) will increase by 0.24 percentage points; for every 10% increase in electricity prices, the CPI will increase by 0.27 percentage points.

Taking household barreled gas as an example, Lai Jianxin pointed out that the current sales price of PetroChina is 20.01 yuan per kilogram, and the actual absorbed cost price is 20.375 yuan per kilogram. Assuming that an average household uses about 1.5 barrels per month, if the household directly bears the unreflected costs, each household's monthly expenditure will increase by approximately 712 yuan.

As for catering and night market operators, Lai Jianxin said that the actual impact still depends on the business scale and usage. Taking night market operators as an example, the monthly increased cost may range from about 1,425 yuan to more than 14,000 yuan.