The government has announced that the country's total subsidized fuel consumption likely to go beyond its initial expectation by 9.7 percent due to higher sales of motorcycles and cars.

Director General for Oil and Gas Evita Legowo told law makers in a hearing on Thursday that as of August 27, the country's total fuel consumption already reached at 72 percent of the total quota allocated in the revised 2008 state budget.

The consumption of subzidized fuel stood at 25.76 million kiloliters with the consumption of the premium type reached 12.48 million kiloliters, diesel reached 7.75 million kiloliters while kerosene reached 5.52 million kiloliters.

Evita explained that the main factor to the high consumption was the growth of cars and motorcycles that went beyond the government's initial estimates, particularly in industrial areas active in mining and agriculture, which also rely on subsidized fuel.

Based on the current fuel consumption growth, Evita projected the total fuel consumption would reached 38,923 million kiloliters, which 19.47 million kiloliters were premium, 11.89 million diesel and 7.56 million kerosene. (and)