Kathmandu, Jan. 16: The government today reduced the prices of petroleum products, by as much as 22.73 per cent of the current price in case of kerosene, saying it was following the international trend.

The price of kerosene was brought down to Rs 17 for a litre, which is a significant five-rupee cut from the earlier Rs 22 for a litre. A litre of petrol and diesel will come a rupee cheaper each at Rs 46 and Rs 26.50 respectively. The revised rates will take effect from mid-night tonight, said a press release issued by the Ministry of Industry, Commerce and Supplies.

In an exclusive talk with The Rising Nepal, Minister for Industry, Commerce and Supplies Ram Krishna Tamrakar said the decision came in line with the government’s policy of keeping the consumers’ welfare uppermost.

“We are setting a trend in that we have begun to monitor the international prices of petroleum products and adjust our prices accordingly,” Minister Tamrakar said. “We are proving the accusation that we did not go by the international trend wrong.”

The government had raised the prices of petroleum products more than three months ago saying that it was compelled to do so because their international prices went up. That led to a series of street protests involving the consumers and the opposition political parties. The opposition blamed the government that it would only raise, and not lower, the prices whenever it invoked the international trend.

“The government had expressed its commitment to revising the prices if there were any changes in the international market,” said the Ministry’s press release. “It has now revised the prices in line with the decrease in the international prices of the petro-products.”

“We have fulfilled our commitment and shown that we are sensitive to the interest of the consumers,” Tamrakar told TRN. “This shows the accusations against the government were wrong.”

Protestors staged sit-ins and wheel jams when the prices were raised, especially as kerosene affected low income consumers across the country. The government then introduced coupons to provide subsidised kerosene, but that didn’t work.

“We had acted promptly enough by distributing coupons for kerosene. But that did not work well because of “political reasons” at the local level, the minister said. “The target groups could not benefit from this arrangement to the extent we desired. Instead, fake coupons began to be used and the middlemen took undue advantage of the low purchasing power of the target group.”

The government is doing all that it can, he said adding “we will keep monitoring the international trend and keep the welfare of the people in view while fixing the prices as low as is practicable.”