Define ‘high income’ before launching petrol plan

Fomca urges government to define ‘high income’ before implementing MyKad-for-petrol plan.

The government should provide a clear definition on those referred to as “high income earners” before implementing new regulations on the subsidised RON95 petrol.

Federation of Malaysian Consumers Associations (Fomca) deputy president, Mohd Yusof Abdul Rahman said this was because the definition of this group differed according to the situation and where they were located.

While describing the announcement as something much awaited, Yusof said the rich were those who were not the least affected by the rise in costs.

“Those earning RM5,000 to RM10,000 are still pressured by the rising cost of living in the city,” he said when contacted by Bernama.

“Firstly, the government has to narrow down on those eligible to receive the subsidy, secondly, remove from the list the industries not qualified for the subsidy, and thirdly, the government needs to fix the leakages and then only, turn to the domestic consumers,” he said.

Yesterday, Deputy Finance Minister Ahmad Maslan said the selling price of RON95 petrol for the high-income group would be in accordance with the market price starting in June next year.

Ahmad said the mechanism and method of implementation were being finalised by the Ministry of Finance and the Ministry of Domestic Trade, Cooperatives and Consumerism using MyKad or other cards.

Low and middle-income earners will continue to enjoy RON95 at the subsidised price.

Economic analyst, Mohd Yusof Kassim said the move by the government would bring significant benefits to low and middle-income earners and make a positive impact on national development.

The savings from the measures taken could be channelled to projects beneficial to the people and national income distributed to the middle-income group, he said. – Bernama