Govt should increase fuel price by next year at latest: lawmaker

The deputy chairman of House of Representatives Commission IX overseeing financial affairs, Harry Azhar Azis, says that the government should raise the price of subsidized fuel next year.

"Increasing the price of subsidized fuel is a necessary step to be taken this year or next year," he said on Sunday, as quoted from tempointeraktif.com.

He added that any further delay in the increase would pose a huge political risk for the government because the move would be largely unpopular if taken soon before the 2014 elections.

"This means that 2012 is their deadline to avoid such political risks," he said, adding that the current price of subsidized fuel was too low, and had encouraged people to stock up beyond their needs.