Fuel price reforms get wide support

Beijing: China on Saturday said the "great majority" of its people support a long-awaited overhaul of its domestic fuel price regime, which officials have said for years is inefficient and unstable.

After raising fuel prices last June, China has not lowered them since, making its petrol some 50 per cent more costly than in the United States, a subject of domestic discontent.

The package of reforms, which were announced last week but go into effect from January 1, are aimed at letting gasoline and diesel prices move more regularly in line with the global market, and are seen making petrol cheaper in the short term.

"Different sections of society have given a relatively high appraisal of the 'proposal'," a notice posted on the website of China's top planning agency, the National Development and Reform Commission said. "The great majority of people believe that the fuel tax reforms will ... be beneficial for the saving of resources and environmental protection," it said.

A week-long period inviting feedback on the reforms which finished on Friday had solicited 48,643 opinions from the Internet, fax, mail and other means, the NDRC said.

China often invites the public to comment on draft legislation and price reforms during special "opinion seeking" periods as a last formality before passing them with generally little or no additional changes.

The reforms, although raising consumption tax on gasoline and diesel, will scrap road tolls, airline maintenance fees and water administrative fees, and will not lead to higher prices at the pump, the government has pledged.