First Vice Prime Minister Anatoliy Kinakh believes that there are no grounds for a sharp jump in prices for petroleum products in the first half of the current year.
Thus Kinakh commented on Sunday to the Inter TV channel on the situation with the price of fuel and lubricants, his press service reports.
"Prices for fuel and petroleum products must be not only stable but also competitive, including for those sectors that need this first and foremost - the agro-industrial complex, which will soon begin spring field work, the housing and communal services, and the needs of the population," he emphasized.
Kinakh emphasized that during the tenure of the government's predecessors the price spiral was artificially compressed. But economic mechanisms cannot withstand manual price management.
The task of the present time is a thorough study of the cost structure of petroleum products in wholesale and retail trade, and firm opposition to attempts at unjustified price increases.