The Finance Ministry is working on posting the fuel prices each month and if the oil price drops significantly, it would be reasonable to expect that the price at the pump will also go down.
Prime Minister Dr Keith Rowley indicated this during a media conference at the Piarco International Airport yesterday, after he returned from an official trip to Barbados.
Asked about reactions to the fuel price hike that became effective on Tuesday, Rowley noted the price of diesel, for instance, was raised by 5o cents. He said the conversations on the issue should note that Government is still bearing a significant portion of the cost.
"And what is being protested is a portion of the cost," Rowley said.
He said the reality is that the product costs more and the taxpayer is paying half the cost and the user, "will organise their business and bear the other 50 per cent of the cost, bearing in mind the product is now more expensive than it was before."
He said he felt this was reasonable "given the nature and state of the country's ability to finance these matters."
Rowley said if the Government didn't pay a portion of the subsidy, the user would have had to pay all of it.
Debunking claims that the cost was high because T&T was no longer refining oil, he queried why the fuel price in the United States was high when the US had so many refineries.
"So I just ask the population to be reasonable. Yes - it's something we'd rather not have to deal with but the reality is the product costs more and the taxpayer is paying half and the user the other half," Rowley said.
Rowley also said that for the first time, the Finance Ministry was also formulating a "trigger point" each month to post the fuel price and that this would be related to the prevailing market circumstances.
"We'll get there very soon and the Finance Minister is already working on that ... and if the prices go down, the same way we've raised it, it's reasonable to expect that if it drops significantly, the price at the pump will also go down," he said.
Rowley also said that ahead, Trinidad and Tobago will have a mixture of vehicles using CNG, liquid fuels and electric power.