By DayakDaily Team
KUCHING, July 11: The Malaysian government will fully leverage information from the Central Dabatase Hub (Padu) if it proceeds with the retargeting of the RON95 fuel subsidy.
In a news report by TVS, Economy Minister Rafizi Ramli stated that the current priority is to assess the impact of the diesel subsidy realignment on the national economy and the public.
“The government is still fine-tuning the coordination mechanism for the RON95 subsidy,” he said during the question-and-answer session in Parliament, Putrajaya today.
Rafizi was responding to a question from Datuk Seri Dr Ronald Kiandee (PH-Beluran) regarding the government’s preparedness concerning data and mechanisms for implementing targeted subsidies.
He highlighted that targeting the RON95 subsidy differs from the diesel subsidy due to its broader scope, affecting 34 million people nationwide compared to the diesel subsidy, which targets registered companies and some of which have already received fleet cards.
Addressing concerns about the sudden adjustment to the diesel subsidy, Rafizi explained that the decision was aimed to offset the impact of rising goods prices.
He argued that announcing adjustments in advance could lead to immediate price hikes by traders.
“Announcing the adjustment earlier could trigger multiple increases in goods prices, which is why it is more effective for the government to finalise decisions internally before making them public to minimise frequent price increases,” he said. — DayakDaily
