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Meanwhile, Prime Minister Anthony Albanese said yesterday Australia will provide up to A$1 billion ($693 million) in interest-free loans to critical businesses, including transport operators and fertiliser producers.
The support package comes as the Iran war disrupts global energy supplies, driving up prices and stoking concerns about availability in a country that imports more than 80 percent of its fuel.
The cheap loans will be offered to businesses considered essential to maintaining critical supply chains, helping them to ride out the immediate financial pressure, reports Reuters.
In China, several airlines, including national carrier Air China, said they will raise their fuel surcharges on domestic flights from Sunday as the war in the Middle East drives up oil prices globally, reports AFP.
Air China, China Southern and its subsidiary Xiamen Airlines said in statements that they will increase surcharges on flights of up to 800 kilometres (500 miles) by 60 yuan ($8.70), and 120 yuan for longer flights. Spring Airlines and Juneyao Airlines also announced fuel surcharge hikes.
International flights will be subject to the system’s calculations, according to statements issued on Wednesday that did not mention the conflict.
The Himalayan kingdom of Bhutan is feeling the impact of the Mideast war, with the government saying “external conditions beyond our control” have forced a hike in fuel prices.
Carbon-negative Bhutan has aggressively promoted hydropower projects, earning substantial revenue by exporting electricity to energy-hungry neighbour India.
But the landlocked nation of about 800,000 people imports its fuel via India, and shortages of fuel have sparked long queues at filling stations in the capital Thimphu, AFP reporters saw yesterday.
Nepal has nearly doubled aviation fuel prices, officials said yesterday, raising fears of a fresh blow to its tourism-dependent economy.
“Aviation fuel prices have increased,” Manoj Kumar Thakur, spokesman for the state-owned Nepal Oil Corporation (NOC), told AFP.