Commercial lorries paying more for diesel effective Wednesday — Ismail Sabri
KUALA LUMPUR: The government has abolished the diesel super subsidy enjoyed by commercial lorries effective Wednesday as it feels that only private vehicles and public interest vehicles should be accorded the subsidy.
Domestic Trade, Cooperatives and Consumerism Minister Datuk Seri Ismail Sabri Yaakob said this meant that commercial lorries should pay RM1.80 per litre of diesel compared with RM1.48 when they were enjoying the diesel super subsidy.
“The super subsidy is maintained for public interest vehicles such as school buses, taxis, individuals who own outboard boat engines and so on,” he told a media conference after presenting excellent service awards to employees of the Intellectual Property Corporation of Malaysia here yesterday.
He said the decision did not mean that the government was withdrawing the diesel subsidy because commercial lorry operators could purchase the fuel at the subsidised price of RM1.80 per litre.
He said the diesel price of RM1.80 at petrol kiosks still enjoyed a government subsidy of RM1 per litre because otherwise the price would actually be RM2.80 per litre without the subsidy.
“We must understand this. Don’t say that we have withdrawn all subsidy to the lorry operators. This is not so. They are still enjoying the subsidy of RM1 per litre. It’s just that previously we gave subsidy on top of another subsidy where we gave a subsidy of RM1 and subsequently we gave another super subsidy to the extent that they only had to pay RM1.48 per litre,” he said.
Asked about the intention of the commercial lorry operators in raising their service cost which would increase the prices of goods, Ismail Sabri said the government could not prevent them from making such a decision.
He said the government would monitor the matter and see the impact of the increase in transport cost on the prices of goods.
Meanwhile, Ismail Sabri said his ministry had not received any report on price increases following the rise in electricity tariff which took effect Wednesday. — Bernama