The refined oil price hike will certainly have a big impact on the transportation industry. The railway cargo transportation price and civil aviation fuel price will be adjusted in line with the price hike. Local governments will be responsible for adjusting the highway passenger transport price.

Prices for railway passenger transport, urban public transportation and rural passenger transportation won't change.

Local governments can raise the taxi fare or subsidize taxi drivers to cope with the price hike, but subsidies to taxi drivers should be given before the taxi fare is raised.

After the refined oil price hike, what will the government do to ease the burden on needy people as well as the public welfare sector?

In order to relieve the pressure on poor people, the government has decided to keep oil prices which involve public interests stable and subsidize those who might suffer from the price hike. After the price hike, the central and local finance departments will continue to subsidize agriculture, fishery, forestry, urban public transportation and urban passenger transportation.

Moreover, the government compensated grain-producing farmers on the basis of 10 yuan per mu (one hectare equals 15 mu) in June this year. As for the liquefied natural gas hike, local governments should make temporary subsidies to residents in accordance with their income. The excessive expenditures of school canteens should be born by local governments. The Central Government will provide subsidies to the country's central and western regions.

The consumer price index (CPI) in the first three quarters increased 4.1 percent year-on-year. Will this round of oil price hikes further raise the CPI?

A preliminary estimation shows this round of refined oil price hikes will push the CPI up around 0.05 percentage point. Given the limited influence, we must prevent chain reactions in other industries. Local governments must keep the prices of grain, pork, edible oil and vegetables stable and keep the prices of all goods at an acceptable level.

It is widely reported that PetroChina and Sinopec have been earning large sums of money all these years. Why is the government still raising refined oil prices?

The main goal for the refined oil price hike is to resolve the sharp disparity between crude oil prices and refined oil prices. Previously, the more crude oil the refineries processed, the more loss they would suffer, leading to refineries' reluctance to refine oil. After the price hike, the price disparity still exists and some refineries are still losing money.

Because the crude oil price of PetroChina and Sinopec is in line with the international level, they have made substantial profits. But the government has imposed special revenue tax on the two companies, which will be used to subsidize the public welfare industry and the poor.

What will the government do to ensure oil supply?

Refined oil processing enterprises should shoulder the responsibility for maintaining an adequate oil supply and increase their output. PetroChina and Sinopec should increase imports of diesel oil and strictly control diesel oil exports. We promote the use of oil rationally and economically. Waste of oil is strongly prohibited. After the price hike, some local refineries will resume production, and the oil shortage problem in some places will be eased to some extent.