KUALA LUMPUR, Aug 20 (Bernama) -- The government will announce the new fuel prices on Aug 31, which will take effect on Sept 1, Prime Minister Datuk Seri Abdullah Ahmad Badawi said Wednesday.

He said the new price would be based on the average fuel prices throughout the month of August and after deducting the 30-sen subsidy per litre.

"We are now monitoring the fuel price (in the international market) and I hope it will continue its downward trend," he said after chairing the 4th National Water Resources Council meeting at the parliament house Wednesday.

He said it was still too early to predict how far the prices of petrol and diesel could be lowered.

"It is still too early... We still have about ten days to go and I hope there will be no more increase in the price of fuel," he said.

Abdullah said if the current downward trend continued, the price of fuel at the pump would definitely be lower than the prevailing rate.

"However, if it goes higher, we will still maintain the current pump price," he said.

The government increased the price of petrol to RM2.70 per litre and diesel, to RM2.58 per litre in June.-- BERNAMA