Comprehensive database will allow targeted subsidies, aid to be channeled effectively, says PM

PUTRAJAYA: A main database that will house socio-economic information of households will be developed so that targeted subsidies and aid can be distributed more effectively, says Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim.

The Prime Minister said the database, to be known as PADU, is also to ensure a more systematic distribution of assistance, to avoid anyone who is eligible from not receiving it.

The Statistics Department will be responsible for collecting all the necessary information for the database.

This includes the number of households, household income, location, number of vehicles, record of assistance received from government departments and other information to determine disposable income of eligible households.

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“Whatever data that we have now is not fully complete and is not coordinated. Once the PADU database is up and running, it will be more comprehensive and will use real time data,” said Anwar after chairing the Economic Action Council meeting on Monday (May 15).

The database is expected to be fully functional by January next year.

The Prime Minister said the meeting also discussed the issue of subsidy, to further improve the diesel subsidy system, which saw the government having to spend RM13bil in 2022.

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He said the use of diesel had increased over the years, noting that last year. 8.4 billion liters were used.

“This is an increase of 37.7% or 6.1 billion liters used in 2019.

“On the other hand, the number of registered vehicles using diesel has only increased 2.4%, from 2.08 million in 2019 to 2.13 million in 2022.

“The surge in diesel usage compared to the number of diesel-usage vehicles indicates that there are leakages that need to be tackled,” he said.

The Prime Minister said the meeting had agreed for several measures to be taken, including to expand the issuance of fleet cards.

“This will help prevent leakages, smuggling and illegal sales of diesel to other parties. The taxes collected are meant to help the people, not for diesel to be sold illegally for small groups to make profit,” he added.