Guan Eng: Najib's RM120m fuel tax claim is a lie

Finance Minister Lim Guan Eng said former prime minister Najib Abdul Razak is falsely accusing the federal government of collecting RM120 million in "fuel taxes".

"The allegation that the government has imposed a fuel tax of RM0.30 on RON95 petrol per litre is not true.

"(The claim that) RM120 million was collected weekly from fuel taxes on RON95 petrol is also false," said Lim.

Lim equated Najib's allegation to the latter's claims that 1MDB had benefitted Malaysia or the latter's claims that there was no such thing as the RM19.4 billion in the shortfall in GST refunds since 2015.

 Lim explained that Putrajaya calculated fuel prices at the end of every month and therefore price changes could only be reflected at the start of a new month.

Najib had accused Putrajaya of collecting fuel taxes by keeping RON95 prices at RM2.20 per litre despite plummeting crude oil prices in recent months.

In December, Brent crude prices hovered above the US$50 mark as global demand weakened while the US ramped up production.

Lim said the price of RON95 should be lower from Jan 1 if all things remained equal. He said Putrajaya would also adopt a weekly float system so price fluctuations would be reflected earlier.

However, Putrajaya intended to cap the maximum price of RON95 at RM2.20 per litre in the near future.

Putrajaya will also introduce a new targetted subsidy system which will limit RON95 subsidies to small car owners.  - Mkini