Wasteful Consumption of Oil Should Be Stopped-NEWS & VIEWS
February 5, 1998 - 0:0
TEHRAN Iran's Oil Minister Bijan Namdar Zangeneh urged local media to act as change agent, preparing the people to exercise fuel economizing. Talking openly to the press here yesterday at Oil Ministry he said media should prepare the ground and come up with new ideas and inform the people about the wasteful consumption of cheap oil derivatives simply because their prices are not below the actual costs.
The media can help initiating a movement to prepare social and cultural grounds to acquaint the people with appropriate way of fuel consumption, the minister said. At present the prices of oil products in Iran are extremely low to the extent that in certain cases they do not meet even the costs of production and distribution, one analyst said, adding, unfortunately oil constitutes the mainstay of our economy.
Any hike in the price of oil products will have a direct effect on all sectors of our economy. As a result we will be having an spiralling inflation. However, it does not mean that we should allow the wasteful consumption of our natural resources merely because they are cheap, he said, adding indeed the onus is on the experts and the government to find a practical way of balancing between the oil price hike and spiralling inflation.
Another expert said the prices of oil products in certain cases are even lower than those of drinking water in our neighboring countries, adding, we should take the interests of the vulnerable strata into consideration when we want to increase the prices of oil products. Namdar Zangeneh added the media should not hesitate in criticizing the Ministry's fuel pricing policies. It will be to our benefit should the people and media protest our pricing policy, he said adding, then we can come up with adequate reasoning to prove that selling gasoline at extremely low prices is not wise." True, increasing the prices of the oil products may help curb its wasteful consumption, but it will have tremendous negative effects on other sectors, an editorialist said, adding, expansion of railway networks, public transportation systems and more facilities of inter-city transportation will help curb the inflation if we decide to increase the prices of oil products.
The media can help initiating a movement to prepare social and cultural grounds to acquaint the people with appropriate way of fuel consumption, the minister said. At present the prices of oil products in Iran are extremely low to the extent that in certain cases they do not meet even the costs of production and distribution, one analyst said, adding, unfortunately oil constitutes the mainstay of our economy.
Any hike in the price of oil products will have a direct effect on all sectors of our economy. As a result we will be having an spiralling inflation. However, it does not mean that we should allow the wasteful consumption of our natural resources merely because they are cheap, he said, adding indeed the onus is on the experts and the government to find a practical way of balancing between the oil price hike and spiralling inflation.
Another expert said the prices of oil products in certain cases are even lower than those of drinking water in our neighboring countries, adding, we should take the interests of the vulnerable strata into consideration when we want to increase the prices of oil products. Namdar Zangeneh added the media should not hesitate in criticizing the Ministry's fuel pricing policies. It will be to our benefit should the people and media protest our pricing policy, he said adding, then we can come up with adequate reasoning to prove that selling gasoline at extremely low prices is not wise." True, increasing the prices of the oil products may help curb its wasteful consumption, but it will have tremendous negative effects on other sectors, an editorialist said, adding, expansion of railway networks, public transportation systems and more facilities of inter-city transportation will help curb the inflation if we decide to increase the prices of oil products.