Motorists filling up their vehicles with diesel will experience very slight pinch in their pockets this week, as the price of this commodity will have slight increase of P0.10 per liter, based on the pricing advisories of the oil companies.

For gasoline products, there’s no price movement this week; while kerosene will have relatively significant reduction of P0.85 per liter, according to the oil firms.

Particularly for diesel products, the calculation based on the Mean of Platts Singapore (MOPS) was supposedly a slight price cut, but it ended up an increase due to the sway of market forces.

As of press time, the oil companies that already sent notices on their price adjustments effective Tuesday (December 19) had been Shell Pilipinas Corporation, Cleanfuel and Seaoil Philippines; while their rival firms are all anticipated to follow.

This is already the second to the last adjustment within this year; and Filipino consumers are earnestly hoping that they will not be jolted with price hikes by next week.

Essentially, the downtrend in prices in recent weeks proved beneficial to the consumers especially with the Christmas rush they had to grapple with to meet deadlines prior to the much-anticipated holiday work break; and to catch up with parties and family gatherings.

By far, ‘carmageddon’ is a very common sight in Metro Manila thoroughfares these days, thus, any amount that consumers can save on their fuel budgets would bring added cheer to them on a weekly basis.

Onward, the trajectory of pricing will still track volatilities next year, hence, markets will continue to be perturbed with unpredictable price swings that will not only impact consumers’ wallets, but even economic growth fundamentals in general.

For import-dependent economies like the Philippines, it’s the upticks in prices that are often punishing – primarily for its public transport sector, that’s why the drivers are often aided with subsidies.

As of Monday (December 18) trading, international benchmark Brent crude inched up close to $77 per barrel, but there’s no clear direction yet how prices will shape for the rest of the week.