Petrol dealers brace for tough times

By M.KRISHNAMOORTHY

KUALA LUMPUR: Petrol dealers are expecting fuel prices to go up and will face tough times when that happens.

Petroleum Dealers Association of Malaysia (PDAM) acting president Abdul Wahid Bidin said operating costs would go up when the price of petrol increases.

This was because most people would pay for their purchases with credit cards and the amount of commission paid to credit card companies would eat into the dealers' profits.

“If the petrol price goes up we will suffer because we will need extra working capital by about 30% if the increase is by about 30%.,” he said.

Abdul Wahid said that for every litre of petrol sold, the dealers would have to pay 1% of the sale amount to the credit card company in commission.

And, another 1% is lost in the evaporation of petrol.

Abdul Wahid wants the Government to get the consumers to share the burden of the credit card commission.

On an average, if a dealer gets an income of RM40,000 a day, he would have to pay out RM300 per day as commission to the credit card companies.

To resolve this problem, he proposed that the Government introduces a two-tier pricing system, one for cash sales and other for credit card users.

“The price for using a credit card will be higher and cash sales may be a few sen lower. This would discourage people from using credit cards,” he said.