Official watchdog checking if pump price rises are ‘coordinated’ by retailers

Amid rising global oil and domestic pump prices exacerbated by sanctions against Russian oil and gas  Singapore’s competition authority says it will investigate signs of coordination in petrol price rises and act against any anti-competitive behaviour.

“Since the start of the year, global oil prices and domestic pump prices had been rising as a result of the Russian-Ukraine tension and retailers here have been adjusting their pump prices periodically,” Second Minister (Trade & Industry) Tan See Leng said on Thursday (Mar 10) in Parliament.

He noted that soon after the war broke out, three retailers further raised pump prices  from Feb 24 to Feb 25. He was responding to a question from MP Lim Wee Kiak (Sembawang GRC) on the government’s efforts in preventing profiteering.

“Overall, the increase in petrol and diesel prices, reflect the rise in the price of crude oil over the past months,” said Dr Tan.

 

“While pump prices are set by the market, the Competition and Consumer Commission of Singapore (CCCS) keeps a close watch to ensure an open and competitive market.”

 

“If there is evidence of anti-competitive behaviour, such as coordinated price increases, CCCS will investigate and take firm enforcement action,” he added.

Well-informed consumers are another key deterrent to unreasonable pricing, said Dr Tan.

Dr Tan cited Fuel Kaki, a retail petrol price comparison website created by the Consumers Association of Singapore (Case), as an example. It empowers consumers to compare  pump prices across the different retailers, he said.

“The government will continue to monitor price movements in the retail petrol industry,” said Dr Tan.

The Leader of the Opposition, Pritam Singh, followed up by asking if the government planned to give private hire drivers and cabbies  a support package to alleviate their costs given the rise in petrol and diesel prices.

Dr Tan said the government was “very closely watching” the situation and would not hesitate to roll out more support.

However, at this particular point in time, he said, the “current slew of measures, support packages, and so on appear to be having some impact in supporting” the drivers./TISG

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