July 12, 2023

Philippines Ranks Near Bottom Of 2023 Petrol Index


Despite gas prices remaining relatively stable, the Philippines ranks near the bottom in Asia-Pacific when compared to the buying power based on the average minimum monthly wage.

According to Picodi.com, an international e-commerce platform and their Petrol Index 2023, the Philippines ranks 13th out of 17 countries in the Asia-Pacific region in terms of fuel cost and 93rd out of 104 countries worldwide.

In the Philippines, the average gas price in June was P 60.65—P 4.30 less than it was in January (P 64.95). Currently, it’s USD 0.17 (P 9.36) less than the rest of Asia-Pacific.

With an average monthly net wage of USD 312 (P 17,406), the average Filipino can afford to buy 287 liters of fuel per month.

Despite the paltry number, this is a big jump from the same period last year when the average wage could only buy 192 liters (95 liters less). By comparison this is how much fuel the average Filipino can buy in the last five years:
  • 2019 – 158 liters
  • 2020 – 333 liters
  • 2021 – 297 liters
  • 2022 – 192 liters
  • 2023 – 287 liters
It’s also worth noting that elsewhere, petrol prices have remained unchanged or, if they have, differed by less than 10 percent. It’s only in Pakistan where it’s become noticeably more expensive (22 percent). Meanwhile, Sri Lanka had the biggest drop—25.5 percent.

Despite the increase in Pakistan, they still have one of the lowest price of gas per liter: USD 0.92 (P 50.63). Indonesia at USD 0.85 (P 46.78) and Malaysia at USD 0.44 per liter (P 24.21) complete the lowest three. It’s worth noting that in Malaysia, like India, the price of fuel is controlled by the government.

Globally, Algeria and Kuwait have the lowest cost per liter at USD 0.34 per liter (P 18.71), and Iran at USD 0.35 (P 19.26). Hong Kong has the highest cost of fuel in the world costing USD 2.99 (P 164.55) per liter. In Asia-Pacific, Singapore at USD 1.96 (P 107.86) and New Zealand at USD 1.57 (P 86.40) take the podium spots for most expensive fuel per liter.

When compared to their average wages though, the most fuel that can be bought belong to citizens of high-wage countries such as Australia (3,669 liters), South Korea (2,132 liters), and New Zealand (1,960 liters) in Asia Pacific. However, this pales in comparison to the Gulf States where in Kuwait, the average salary can buy you 7,222 liters; Qatar (6,839 liters), and United Arab Emirates (4,611 liters).

On the other hand, the Petrol Index looks the worst in Cuba (27 liters), Sri Lanka (157 liters), and Pakistan (166 liters) based on their average monthly wages.

3 comments:

  1. If we're not using that much fuel, I wonder how much electricity would we use when we shift to EVs.

    ReplyDelete
  2. Because like most Southeast Asian nations (Thailand for example), as well as South Asia and rest of Africa, DIESEL is more favourable for cars than petrol aka "gasoline" in 'Merica and Canada. Also since "petrol" is British English then its deeply funny that country (UK) is no longer important but only gets relevance due to half of the UK going "woke" since EVs are one of them - also in Britain lorries means "trucks" and so "woke" British bois prefer small cars than big and "gas" guzzling monsters that only 'Mericans want...

    ReplyDelete
  3. ^Did you know that the English language originated in England which is British? All the English words they invented are therefore the originals.

    ReplyDelete

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