President Lee orders keeping the maximum price system and fuel tax cuts in place until oil prices stabilize

President Lee Jaemyung, who is on a state visit to Brazil, presided over a senior aides' meeting by video conference on the 26th (local time) and instructed that the cap on oil prices and the reduction in fuel taxes be maintained until instability in international oil prices is resolved. President Lee emphasized that preemptive measures are necessary to reduce the impact of instability in the Middle East on domestic prices. He also said that measures to ease the burden on truck drivers, construction machinery workers, farmers and fishermen, and mobile workers, who use a high proportion of diesel, should continue. He also referred to the recent revelation of allegations of collusion among refiners and ordered the relevant authorities to thoroughly crack down on marketdistorting practices such as hoarding and collusion involving oil and other essential daily necessities. However, the article also reported criticism that some energy price suppression policies could provide greater benefits to highincome households.