Najib: Govt provides billions of ringgit in subsidies

KUALA LUMPUR: The Government allocates billions of ringgit for subsidies for the various sectors every year and any allegation otherwise is untrue, said Datuk Seri Najib Tun Razak (pic).

"As announced in Budget 2018, the Government has allocated RM3.9bil for subsidies for transportation and goods such as cooking gas and oil and flour.

"In addition to goods, subsidies were also allocated for electricity and tolls to prevent an increase in rates. The Government also allocates high subsidies to the health sector annually," he said in a post on his blog on Sunday.

Najib, who is also the Finance Minister, said RM26.5bil had been allocated for healthcare in 2018, despite the sector only collecting RM600mil.

Since 2012, he said fees for public schools had been waived with the Government funding about 90% of university tuition fees.

"For example, the fees for a medical education programme before the subsidy is RM289,885. But after the subsidy, students only need to pay a fee of RM9,000 during the course of study.

"This is another example of how education subsidies are channelled," he added.

For the housing sector, Najib said subsidies in the form of deposit assistance had been provided through the MyDeposit Scheme as well as subsidised low-cost housing, such as the People's Housing Programme, Felda Second Generation Homes and National Smallholders Development Authority's (Risda) Rumah Bina Negara. - Bernama