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THE Bahrain government’s subsidies on asphalt are to be scrapped.
The prices were expected to be deregulated as of January 1 for lack of economic viability, the National Oil and Gas Authority announced.
The price trends in world markets will be used as benchmarks to fix the cost of locally sold asphalt. Asphalt has been sold locally at half-price since 2010, compared with the real pricing benchmarks in global markets.
A metric tonne of asphalt currently costs customers BD77 ($203) and new ones BD103, compared with BD207 in global markets. Overall subsidies cost the public budget BD1.12 billion ($2.98 billion) at the end of last year.
