PUTRAJAYA: The federal government spent RM4.89 billion on petrol and diesel subsidies for the first 11 months of 2018, said Finance Minister Lim Guan Eng today.
Refuting allegations that the government has been taxing petrol, he said the Pakatan Harapan Federal Government had neither profited from retail petrol pump prices nor imposed sales tax on RON95 or diesel.
“Total petrol and diesel subsidies for the first 11 months of 2018 amounted to RM4.89 billion and the Pakatan Harapan government has neither profited from retail petrol pump price nor imposed sales tax on RON95 or diesel.
“Allegations that the government has been taxing petrol are false and baseless.
“The simple truth is that the government did subsidise RON95 and diesel in November, albeit at a lower cost compared to the previous months,” he said.
Lim said the latest official records showed that in November 2018, the government had paid RM4.1 million for RON95 petrol subsidy.
Meanwhile for diesel fuel that was heavily used not only for commercial and industrial sectors but also by the public in Sabah and Sarawak, the Government paid RM209.1 million subsidy in November.
He also said that the current government was dedicated to transparency.
“If and when automated pricing mechanism (APM) prices drop further, the government will adjust the pricing downwards so that Malaysians will benefit from cheaper fuel prices,” he said.
He said as mentioned before, the government was implementing a floating mechanism this month where pump prices will fall on weekly basis if APM prices decreased further.
“If APM prices rise, the retail prices would be stabilised at the current fixed levels at RM2.20 per litre for RON95 and RM2.18 per litre for diesel,” he said.
Lim said once the government rolls out its targeted petrol subsidy programme before the end of the year, petrol and diesel will be floated freely based on market prices.