China on Tuesday hiked fuel prices by the biggest margin in nearly three years after a surge in the cost of global crude, the government and state media said.
The rise is the second this year and comes as the government has more leeway to adjust price levels while inflation eases from multi-year highs seen in the middle of 2011.
The benchmark retail price for petrol will rise by 0.44 yuan ($0.7) per litre while the price for diesel rises by 0.51 yuan ($0.8), the state planner said in a statement late Monday.
The move works out to a rise of about 600 yuan per tonne, the largest since June 2009, the Xinhua news agency reported.
China also raised prices last month by 300 yuan per tonne for both petrol and diesel, the National Development and Reform Commission said.
Inflation eased last month to 3.2 percent — its slowest pace since June 2010 following a string of interest rate hikes and other monetary tightening measures by Beijing.
“Inflation appears to have subsided, providing room for the second oil price hike (this year),” Australia and New Zealand Banking Group said in a research note Tuesday.
Beijing limits rises in fuel costs to insulate domestic consumers when international prices rally.
China is the biggest energy consumer in the world and the second biggest consumer of oil.
