Pertamina Suffers Losses Due to Government's Policy
5 August 2015 17:18 WIB
TEMPO.CO, Jakarta - PT Pertamina president director Dwi Soetjipto said that although the company has booked a total net profit of US$570 million in the first semester of 2015, there was a potential losses of US$1 billion due to the government's policy.
"The government set the price outside the agreement," Dwi said at his office on Wednesday, August 5, 2015.
According to Dwi, fuel prices, particularly the subsidized Premium fuel, should be set based on the market-price mechanism. Dwi said that he could understand the government's decision to maintain Premium price at Rp 7,300 in an attempt to maintain the public's purchasing power.
Therefore, Dwi hoped that the government would not reduce Premium price, as the current international oil price has started to decrease, to cover a deficit of US$1 billion.
Pertamina commercial director Ahmad Bambang said that his company has suffered an average loss of Rp 8 billion (US$615,300) per day in the period of April-July 2015.
Ahmad revealed that the Premium price had been changed seven times. On January 1, 2015, the government set the Premium price at Rp 7,600 per liter, while Pertamina set it at Rp 7,800 per liter.
ANDI RUSLI