MAD RUSH: Motorists in Kuching queuing up at a petrol station last night to beat the price hike of RON 95 which came into effect at midnight.
PUTRAJAYA: Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib Tun Razak yesterday announced a 20-sen increase for RON95 petrol and diesel effective today.
“This is one of the subsidy rationalisation measures by the government,” Najib, who is also Finance Minister, told a press conference after chairing the fiscal policy committee meeting.
The meeting is held biannually.
Currently, the government bears an 83-sen subsidy for a litre of RON95 petrol and RM1 for a litre of diesel, he said. He said the government has allocated RM24.8 billion for fuel subsidy this year.
“The 20-sen subsidy reduction means the government still provides 63-sen subsidy for a litre of RON95 and 80 sen for a litre of diesel,” he said.
To ease the burden of low-income earners and people easily affected by the fuel subsidy rationalisation measure, the government will increase the 1Malaysia People’s Aid (BRIM) payment in the 2014 Budget, he said.
The quantum will be announced when the budget is tabled in Parliament on Oct 25, he added.
Najib said under the subsidy rationalisation policy for fuel, which would commence tomorrow, the government would save about RM1.1 billion this year.
“For the full year we expect about RM3.3 billion, but this year because we will start tomorrow morning, then it will be about RM1.1 billion, he added.
He said in order to arrest the declining current surplus, the government will scrutinise the implementation of public sector projects carefully.
“The projects with low import contents will be given priority, with emphasis on those which will generate strong multiplier effects to ensure that the country’s growth is not affected.
“Also, projects with high import contents will be rescheduled to ensure that they do not negatively affect the balance of payments,” he said. — Bernama