KUCHING, July 18: The current blanket petrol subsidy approach should be replaced with a precision subsidy which benefits deserving individuals.
According to Julau MP Larry Sng, petrol prices in Malaysia is the second lowest in Asia and one of the lowest in the world.
He said in Europe, Singapore and most parts of the world, petrol prices for RON97 equivalent are around four to five times higher than the price here.
“Although such a policy (petrol subsidies) has benefitted many over the years, we should be extremely cautious given the government’s ballooning total subsidies amounting close to RM80 billion to date.
“The potential danger of maintaining our current subsidy levels is that not only it is eating into our development fund but there maybe other issues like leakages and our subsidy being abused by others.
“A better approach may be a target subsidy for those who are most deserving instead of a blanket subsidy approach,” said Sng in a social media post. — DayakDaily
