Amid the rising prices of oil, the Department of Agriculture (DA) will not yet give fuel subsidies to farmers and fisherfolks.
DA Secretary William Dar, in a press briefing, noted that the specific threshold that the government has set for giving the fuel subsidy has not yet been reached.
Dar said there is a “trigger mechanism” before the government can release the subsidy, and that mechanism is gasoline prices per barrel should hit $80 per barrel in the world market. The official said, “we are still far from there (the $80 per barrel threshold).”
The DA has allocated P500 million for the fuel subsidies for 2022.
Dar noted that aside from fuel subsidies, the government has “agricultural interventions” for farmers and fishers. Oil firms on Tuesday hiked pump prices yet again, marking the seventh straight week of price increases.
Earlier, The Department of Energy (DOE) warned that the high oil price trend may continue in the next two months and start tapering off only by May or June due to the continuing tightness in oil supply globally.
DOE director for Oil Industry Management Bureau Rino Abad said supply problems from the members of the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) and its allies helped push up prices.
He said the oil supply shortage started last year, reaching around 1.85 million barrels per day, and OPEC and its allies committed to increase production but some of its member countries also suffered supply problems.
Abad said demand also went up as most countries want to set up their strategic petroleum reserves. In 2021, gasoline went up by P17.65 per liter, diesel by P14.30 per liter and kerosene by P11.50 per liter.