Vietnam to cut petrol, diesel prices by up to 7.2 pct

HANOI (Reuters) - Vietnam will cut retail petrol and diesel prices by up to 7.2 percent later on Saturday, state-run online newspapers reported, citing the Finance Ministry.

Retail prices for the popular 92-octane petrol would be cut 6.7 percent to 14,000 dong (84.8 U.S. cents) from 15,000 dong now, the VNExpress site (www.vnexpress.net) said without giving an exact timing for the price reduction.

Prices of diesel with 0.25 percent sulphur would also be cut 7.2 percent to 12,950 dong per liter, from 13,950 dong now, while kerosene prices would ease 6.45 percent to 14,500 dong per liter.

The online report said the Finance Ministry, which has been weighing higher import duty on oil products, would issue a directive later on Saturday to raise the import tariff on petrol to 20 percent from 15 percent now.

The widely expected petrol price cuts on Saturday would be the fifth since early October. Hanoi last slashed pump prices for petrol, diesel, kerosene and fuel oil by up to 3.5 percent on October 31 taking advantage of falling world prices.

Vietnam, which exports all of its daily crude production of around 300,000 bpd, expected state budget to lose $2.2 billion dong if world crude prices stayed at around $70 a barrel, Finance Minister Vu Van Ninh has said.

On Friday U.S. crude settled up 27 cents to $61.04 a barrel off earlier highs of $62.82 a barrel. London Brent crude for December settled down 8 cents at $57.35 a barrel.

Lower oil product prices would help Vietnam control inflation, in double digits since last November. Hanoi has forecast inflation this year at 24 percent, nearly double last year's rate of 12.6 percent.

($1=16,501 dong)

(Reporting by Ho Binh Minh; Editing by Tomasz Janowski)