Surplus O&G revenue used for public, says Johari

PETALING JAYA: Extra revenue from oil and gas goes towards improving the public health, defence of the country and also education programmes, said Second Finance Minister Datuk Johari Abdul Ghani.

He said these were the key areas “where our major expenditures are.”

Johari also added that while Malaysia exports a lot of gas but the country also needs to import petrol for local consumption.

“Surplus amount is used to cover some of the loss in revenue previously, and the (rest of the) money will be used for public purposes,” said Johari.

Revenue from palm oil and natural gas, which amounted to about RM65bil in 2014, fell sharply to RM30bil last year.

Johari was yesterday responding to criticism over the recent fuel price increase.

The price per litre for RON95 and RON97 was increased by 20 sen to RM2.30 and RM2.60 respectively while the price of diesel also went up by 10 sen to RM2.15, beginning from Wednesday.