Private companies support Govt's tariff free fuel policy
Private companies support Govt's tariff free fuel policy
The government's decision to halt fuel tariff exemptions will cause no impact on fuel companies importing oil legally from other countries, a senior expert working in this field noted.
Deputy Director of Lao State Fuel Enterprise Mr Phayboun Phomphaphi told Vientiane Times on Friday that he supported the policy which is designed to close loopholes in illegal oil imports.
“The tariff free fuel policy will make all imports of oil legal and allow for open fair treatment and competition among companies operating fuel businesses in Laos,” he said.
However, those who attempted to import petrol illegally into the country might suffer from the government's decision to end tariff free fuel, which was announced on Thursday.
Sources, who asked not to be named, said in previous years some companies were allowed to import fuel, for instance 10 litres, but they informed authorities of only 5 litres.
All tax/tariff evasion related activities caused huge revenue losses for the country which could be added to the national budget to pay teachers' salaries and finance poverty reduction-related projects.
As of May 2016, about 1.49 billion litres of fuel worth over 1.49 trillion kip (at the current oil price) had been granted fuel tariff exemptions.
However, Mr Phayboun said the halt in fuel tariff exemptions could cause impact upon some investment projects particularly those in hydropower development as the cost of their investment could increase.
Minister to the Prime Minister's Office and Government Spokesman Dr Chaleun Yiapaoher told a press conference on Thursday that from now on, the import of all fuels would not be granted tariff exemptions.
“We will treat every company equally based on the rule of law,” Dr Chaleun said.
The government has delegated the Ministry of Finance, the Ministry of Planning and Investment, the Minist ry of Industry and Commerce and the Ministry of Energy and Mines to inspect development projects which have been granted fuel tariff exemptions over previous years.
The move aims to identify how many litres of tariff free fuel has been awarded for their projects and how many litres have been imported so far and what remaining figure do they further require to import.
Dr Chaleun said “We will not grant oil tariff exemptions to any companies or projects from now on. However we will discuss with projec t contractors on how to deal with this issue properly.”
To address issues for projects funded through loans or aid from foreign countries, the government is considering possible solutions given the loans or aid is basically not allowed to be spent on paying tax/tariffs.
Dr Chaleun said one possible solution was that loans or aid could be spent to pay tariffs and repaid by the government.
