Brunei: No price reduction on electricity, public told

BANDAR SERI BEGAWAN, Aug 31 (Borneo Bulletin/ANN): Minister at the Prime Minister’s Office and Minister of Finance and Economy II Dato Seri Setia Dr Awang Mohd Amin Liew Abdullah said there will be no price reduction on electricity in the face of the Covid-19 outbreak.

“If you think about the electricity rate in the Sultanate, it is already subsidised.

"Clearly, there are a lot of people staying at home at the moment, so the electricity usage will probably increase, but in reality, the increase is already subsidised by the government," he said.

“The public should not think negatively about this. In hindsight, they are also saving money, by not commuting to the office, which saves petrol, yet I don’t hear them say they want to give the extra savings back to the government.

“We need to consider what the government has already provided to the country, among them, public facilities.

"In this crisis, the government has also spent substantially, yet we do not charge for the vaccinations, and we have been increasing the hospital capacity to accommodate people affected by the virus, which are also expenses borne by the government,” the minister added.

Brunei reported 76 new Covid-19 cases on Monday night, bringing the national tally to 2,641.

According to Brunei's Ministry of Health, all the new cases are local infections. While the source of infection of 45 local cases is still under investigation, one new cluster has been detected, which brings the total number of active clusters to 46.

There are currently 1,794 active cases being treated and monitored at the National Isolation Center, with seven of them in critical condition and 33 other patients under close monitoring.

Brunei also reported 111 recoveries on Monday. There have been a total of 836 recovered patients and 11 deaths reported so far in the country. - Borneo Bulletin/ANN