liter (0.26 gallons) Monday from 5,200 riel (U.S. $1.30) in May last
year.
The cost of gas was 4,500 riel (U.S. $1.12) per liter in May of 2010.
Cambodian prices are much higher than in Laos (U.S. $1.10), Vietnam
(U.S. $ 1. 05) and Thailand (U.S. $1.27).
Phuong Sovann, president of the Government Civil Servant Association,
said the high cost of gasoline could be attributed to a lack of
competition in the country's petroleum industry.
He said that the Cambodian government allows only a few gasoline
businesses, which he pointed out are operated by the well-connected
family members of the country's political elite. He said those select
few owners profit from their monopoly by setting prices as they
please.
"In Cambodia, those who are close to the government, particularly
those family members related to Prime Minister Hun Sen, run the
gasoline business. As a result, it is difficult to operate a business
in an atmosphere of a free-market economy," he said.
"They [set the prices] as they want."
He called on the government to grant permits for as many gasoline
companies as possible, saying that the competition would naturally
result in lower gas prices.
In recent years, high gas prices in Cambodia have driven up food and
other household costs, leading parents to pull their children out of
school to help support the family, particularly in remote areas of the
country where assistance is needed with farming chores.
According to a 2009 survey conducted by the Cambodian Teachers'
Association, 36 percent of children quit school that year due to
poverty and the high cost of living.
In Vietnam, fuel is often siphoned off and smuggled across the border
to Cambodia to cash in on the higher prices, while gasoline smuggling
from Thailand to Cambodia is also common.
Larger shipments of gasoline are smuggled to Cambodia via sea, while
smaller shipments are taken across the border on land.
Authorities who catch smugglers often release them after being paid bribes.
http://www.rfa.org/english/news/cambodia/gas-04092012173915.html
