China will raise the retail prices for gasoline by 500 yuan ($76.34) per tonne and diesel by 400 yuan per tonne starting Thursday, the country's top economic planner said on Wednesday.
After the implementation of the increase, which is the second price rise this year, the benchmark retail price of gasoline will be raised by 0.37 yuan per liter and diesel by 0.34 yuan per liter, the National Development and Reform Commission (NDRC) said.
Due to rising international crude oil prices and mounting domestic inflation pressures, the NDRC has "properly postponed" the timing of the rise in prices and has limited the increase, the statement said.
The agency said the government would provide subsidies to farmers, fishermen and public transportation systems in cities and offer temporary subsidies to taxi drivers to offset higher prices.
The Chinese government adopted an oil pricing mechanism at the start of 2009 which allows the NDRC to adjust retail fuel prices when international crude oil prices change by more than 4 percent over 22 straight working days.
As of Tuesday, the moving average crude oil prices of Brent, Dubai and Cinta have climbed 14.31 percent since China's last fuel price rise on February 20, according to data from www.oilgas.com.cn, an online oil and gas market monitoring service.