Wednesday, December 11, 2013
Kabul (BNA) Officials of the Afghan Ministry Commerce and Industries (MoCI) said on Tuesday that the acting Minister of Commerce and Industries during a visit to Russia agreed to purchase 500,000 tons of oil from Russian Government Company at a discounted price.
The announcement comes a few weeks after officials indicated Afghanistan planned to broker a fuel deal with Russia to increase imports in anticipation of higher demand for heating during the winter months.
Officials stressed that the oil would be imported into the country by both the governments and private companies.
The Russian Gas Prom has reportedly agreed to provide a 95 USD discount on each ton of oil and a 55 USD discount on each ton of diesel fuel.
Mutsel Komki, the Deputy Minister of Commerce and Industries said that the documents for purchasing the oil from Russia have been prepared and after approval of the president, the money will be paid and the oil imported.
“We will import the oil on easy terms and conditions, which means that the government will be informed about the price and expenses of its imports and we will set the prices with cooperation of private companies in order to control market prices so that there is no financial loss for the customers and the importers,” Komki said on Tuesday.
Officials of the Ministry of Commerce and Industries has said that 20 percent of the oil would be imported into Afghanistan by the Oil and Gas Enterprise and the rest would be imported by private companies.
Afghanistan as landlocked country is depending on imported fuel materials to complete its needs and its mentionable to say that majority of the Afghan people have no better economic condition and they expect that the government will give some subsidy on the prices of fuel materials and the concerned organs should keep firm control on the local markets to prevent the profiteers from drinking people’s blood by raising the prices into sky touching level.
“Currently, 1kg liquid gas is sold to 85 AFG in Kabul city and one liter diesel to 63 AFG, alongside that the prices of food items have also increased and the people are very distressed about the prices, said Kabul resident Wahid, adding that the profiteers have raised the prices of fuel materials very high which is beyond the capacity of the Afghan people.”
In the meantime, the people has demanded from the ministry of commerce and industries (MoCI) to ensure establishment of government fuel selling centers so that the profiteers are prevented from drinking people’s bloods.
