http://www.iht.com/articles/ap/2007/01/19/business/AS-FIN-Malaysia-Fuel-Price-Cuts.php

KUALA LUMPUR, Malaysia: Malaysia has no plans yet to cut controlled retail fuel prices even though crude oil prices have fallen to 20-month lows, Prime Minister Abdullah Ahmad Badawi said Friday.

"At the moment, we have not decided to do that yet but we are still watching," Abdullah was quoted as saying by national news agency Bernama. "You know that oil price always fluctuates. We don't know if the oil prices will go up again."

Oil prices briefly dropped below US$50 per barrel on Thursday for the first time since May 2005 after U.S. data showed a sharp increase in crude supply in the United States, the world's top oil consumer.

That's down sharply from a record US$78.40 last July.

Opposition parties and activists recently urged the Malaysian government to cut retail fuel prices in line with declining global oil prices.

Abdullah said the government would not be rush into it because changing fuel prices is an important decision.

"We cannot be hasty. It is good to keep on monitoring...it's better if the government monitors whether the trend is for prices to decline and will not rise again and then we can determine a certain level," he added.

Malaysia, which heavily subsidizes fuel prices, sharply raised prices of gasoline, diesel and liquefied petroleum gas in February last year by as much as 23 percent after global crude oil prices shot up to US$70 a barrel.

Despite the subsidy slash, Malaysia's fuel prices remain among the lowest in Southeast Asia. But the price hike prompted a series of public protests, with demonstrators saying it was unnecessary as Malaysia is a net oil exporter.