Putrajaya is not considering classifying the Budi Madani RON95 (Budi95) fuel subsidy based on income class, with such measures being put on the back burner over more pressing issues.
According to Treasury secretary-general Johan Mahmood Merican, the government’s main concern for now is to analyse data gathered from the beginning of the Budi95 programme to evaluate its success and potential drawbacks.
While the review works include identifying “unusual utilisations” of the subsidy scheme, Johan added that the government is not keen on “tweaking” the initiative too much in the short term.
“Let's first focus on removing the leakages from either foreigners or companies using subsidised fuel and allow more Malaysians to (benefit from) Budi95, rather than engaging in a long debate.
“Whether we should come up with a tiered mechanism, (where) maybe people earning more than RM20,000 should no longer benefit - that is not on the table at the moment,” Bernama quoted him as saying at a fireside chat session today.
Johan also said that government data thus far have shown that the average consumption is about 83 litres per month, with 90 per cent of people eligible for Budi95 using less than 200 litres per month.
Previously, Prime Minister Anwar Ibrahim’s political secretary Kamil Abdul Munim, who serves Anwar in his capacity as the finance minister, said the top 15 percent (T15) income group may lose access to the Budi95 subsidy in upcoming phases.
He said the phased implementation of the programme is to ensure subsidies are distributed in a more structured manner and to prevent leakage.
“After this first phase, we will first assess how the implementation works. From there, improvements will be made. For example, it is possible that the top 15 percent (T15) income group may no longer be included in the list of RON95 subsidy recipients,” said Kamil.
Anwar announced the subsidised RON95 petrol for Malaysians under Budi95 on Sept 22 last year.
The scheme enables all Malaysians with a valid driving licence to buy RON95 at RM1.99 per litre, with a monthly limit of 300 litres.
E-hailing drivers, however, are exempted from the cap, while foreigners driving locally registered vehicles are to pay the market price for RON95. Foreign-registered vehicles are still limited to RON97. - Mkini
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