Vietnam unlikely to increase environmental tax on fuel

HANOI, March 15 (Xinhua) -- The Vietnamese government is considering dismissing The Finance Ministry's proposal on increasing environmental taxes on fuel products, local media reported on Friday.

The government said The tax hike requires furTher consideration, because The hike, according to experts, not only goes against stimulus measures, but also creates inequality for low and middle income people and reduces domestic consumption, daily newspaper Vietnam News reported.

The ministry has proposed several times almost tripling The environmental protection tax on oil and gas consumption to The maximum 8,000 Vietnamese dong (0.35 U.S. dollars) per liter.

Vietnam imported 1.1 million tons of various kinds of oil and petroleum products totaling 616 million U.S. dollars in The first two months of this year, seeing respective year-on-year declines of 50.5 percent and 56.7 percent, according to The ministry.

Meanwhile, The country imported 253,000 tons of liquefied petroleum gas worth 130 million U.S. dollars, down 3.3 percent in volume and down 14.5 percent in value.