National Development Minister Mah Bow Tan said the Government cannot reduce petrol taxes despite soaring oil and pump prices.

Speaking on the sidelines of a dialogue session with Tampines residents yesterday, he warned against taking the subsidy route, noting that even countries such as China and Malaysia have started to re-think their policies on this.

Petrol duty here - about 40 cents for every litre - is meant to promote public transport and curb excessive use of cars.

Mr Mah said: 'If you price it wrongly, if you subsidise anything, people will tend to use it more or people will tend not to use it as efficiently as possible and that is going to raise the demand. Once you raise the demand, I think that is in turn going to cause prices to go up even higher.'

He said Singapore's strategy is to change habits and attitudes on energy consumption.
'If you are a motorist, how do you cut down (consumption)? Reduce the number of trips, if possible. Car pool, if possible. Better still, take public transport,' he said.