Fuel prices in Cambodia

Fuel Prices in Cambodia: What You Pay at the Pump

As of the latest update, a litre of gasoline in Cambodia costs about $1.368 USD, which works out to roughly 5,517 KHR per litre. Converted to the larger volume most American drivers think in, that is around $5.18 per US gallon. Diesel sits a little cheaper at about $1.057 per litre. Those figures place Cambodia at number 69 out of 170 countries surveyed, just below the world average of $1.484 per litre. In other words, Cambodian motorists pay slightly less than the global norm, but fuel is far from cheap for a low-income economy.

Why Cambodia Pays What It Does

Cambodia is a near-total fuel importer. The country has no meaningful domestic refining capacity and only nascent offshore oil production, so essentially every litre of petrol and diesel arrives by ship and truck, largely refined in Singapore, Thailand and Vietnam. That import dependence means Cambodian pump prices track international crude and regional refined-product benchmarks closely, with little of the buffer that oil-exporting nations enjoy.

Taxes are a major component of the retail price. Imported fuel carries import duties, a special tax (excise) on petroleum products, and value-added tax. Unlike heavily subsidised Gulf or Southeast Asian neighbours such as Malaysia, Cambodia does not run a broad consumer fuel subsidy. Instead, the government uses a price-ceiling formula, published periodically by the Ministry of Commerce, that adjusts the maximum allowable pump price to reflect the Mean of Platts Singapore (MOPS) reference plus fixed shipping, tax and margin allowances. When global prices spiked, the ministry occasionally trimmed tax components temporarily to soften the blow, but there is no permanent subsidy keeping prices artificially low.

The Dollar Factor

Cambodia is one of the most dollarised economies in the world. While the official currency is the riel (KHR), US dollars circulate freely and many large transactions, including fuel wholesale, are denominated in USD. The riel is informally pegged near 4,000 to the dollar, so the local price of 5,517 KHR per litre stays remarkably stable in dollar terms. This dollar anchoring shields Cambodian drivers from the currency-driven price swings that punish motorists in countries with collapsing local currencies. For a stark contrast, see how a hyperinflationary economy distorts the pump in Syria, where official and street prices diverge wildly.

Because the riel barely moves against the dollar, almost all of the movement in Cambodian fuel prices comes from the global crude market and from Singapore refining margins rather than from exchange-rate turbulence. When you see the pump price change, it is usually because the Ministry of Commerce has revised its bi-weekly ceiling in response to MOPS.

How Cambodia Compares

Ranking 69th of 170 puts Cambodia squarely in the middle of the global table. It is cheaper than most of Europe but pricier than many oil-rich states. Within the developing world, the experience is uneven: some import-dependent nations with weak currencies and thin infrastructure pay much more, such as Guinea, while small tourism-driven island economies like Grenada and Saint Lucia often carry high import-and-shipping costs of their own. You can compare the full global picture on our world fuel prices page.

For Cambodian households and the country's growing fleet of motorbikes, even mid-table prices bite. With incomes well below regional averages, fuel represents a larger share of the family budget than the dollar figure alone suggests. That is one reason diesel, used for trucking, farming and generators, is kept noticeably lower than gasoline through a lighter tax treatment.

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