KUALA LUMPUR - The Finance Ministry today sidestepped a question on whether Malaysians will see further slashes to the petrol subsidy in the near future, in a move that suggests a fuel hike is not off the cards this year.
Instead of answering Lanang MP Lau Kiong Yieng’s question on whether the government will reduce petrol subsidies this year and in 2014, Deputy Finance Minister Ahmad Maslan launched into an explanation on subsidy rationalisation.
“The subsidy distribution in Malaysia needs to be restructured so that it is more focused and reaches the target group. The subsidy rationalisation steps is carried out by removing blanket subsidies in stages, which has many leakages, to targeted subsidies.”
“Under this principle, the distribution of subsidies will continue but will only be targeted towards those who truly need,” Ahmad Maslan told the Dewan Rakyat during the question session this morning.
He then reiterated the list of financial aid the government had promised to certain sections of society in the Budget 2014, including the Bantuan Rakyat 1Malaysia (BR1M) handouts, tax relief, and school aid.
Ahmad also said the government will increase electricity supply to those in rural areas who have been hit hard by the recent fuel hike as they rely on diesel for their generator sets.
No drastic subsidy abolition
When asked whether the government would abolish other forms of subsidy aside from sugar, Ahmad said that it would not be done drastically.
“We don’t intend to abolish other subsidies in one go, but in stages.
“Besides, the subsidy rate is dependent on the economic climate, the international market price of petrol, and the government’s ability to provide subsidies,” he told the Dewan Rakyat.
No comments:
Post a Comment