New fuel prices will bring positive outcome

The UAE dailies yesterday commented editorially on the new fuel prices announced yesterday by the UAE as part of the new pricing policy describing the positive outcome of the decision.

The Dubai-based Gulf News daily said the end of fuel subsidies in the UAE will have the huge benefit of encouraging all road users to change their habits for the better.

"Nothing is going to change overnight and most car users will adapt to the 24 per cent rise in the price of regular petrol, but in the long term, people will start to think more carefully about how they travel around the country. It is time to change the daily inconvenience of the county's main roads getting jammed at rush hours by hundreds of cars, nearly all of which are carrying only one person each," the daily said.

"One group that will be delighted with the changes are the truck and bus drivers who use diesel, which has dropped by 29 per cent, and this will have a substantial knock-on effect on the wider economy".

"The country's impressive road system will function much better when there is more carpooling and more use of taxis, and many more people use the buses, metros and trams, particularly once their networks spread more effectively across the cities," the daily added.

Another Dubai-based English daily Khaleej Times said the UAE's first step toward eliminating oil subsidy is a giant leap in the sound management of public finances.

The daily noted that the 24 per cent increase in petrol prices will bring out at least three positive changes: reduce the fast ballooning subsidy on petrol, which had touched billions in 2014.

"It should curb the growth in petrol consumption, which has been growing at an annual rate of 8 per cent. And it will raise the revenues of the government not only by lowering the subsidy bill, but allowing a largest share of oil to be exported - if the country so decides. Globally, examples abound of countries that have bankrupted themselves through subsidies".

"Good economics is good policy and convincing that to the people at large is good leadership. The UAE government has taken the first step very successfully. It should build on it in the coming months when petrol prices will be reviewed," it added.