KUALA LUMPUR: The first month of Budi95 subsidy implementation had gone smoothly with over 13 million users in October, says Deputy Finance Minister Lim Hui Ying.
Lim told the Dewan Rakyat that as of Oct 31, 80%, or 13.1 million of the 16.5 million Malaysians eligible for targeted subsidies, had purchased RON95 petrol at the subsidised rate of RM1.99 per litre.
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This involved 1.33 billion litres of fuel, amounting to RM2.66bil in total.
“We can say that the first month of the implementation of Budi95 has gone well. The system has been stable, with no complications or long queues at petrol stations,” she said during Question Time in the Dewan Rakyat on Monday (Nov 3).
“Consumers are getting used to Budi95,” she added.
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Lim said the government would continue to improve the system to make it more effective and inclusive.
She noted that savings from the programme would be directed to other initiatives that benefit the people, including the SARA aid and Sumbangan Tunai Rahmah (STR) programmes.
She was responding to a question from Chong Zhemin (PH–Kampar) on the status of the targeted RON95 petrol subsidy and how the Government ensures that only low- and middle-income groups genuinely benefit from the scheme.
In a supplementary question on the savings, Chong asked about the financial impact. Lim said the government could recognise the projected savings of between RM2.5bil and RM4bil, based on estimates that 22% of users were ineligible for subsidies, the removal of subsidies for foreigners and commercial users, and oil prices of US$60–80 per barrel.
Lim also said the government is fine-tuning the mechanism for e-hailing drivers, with an announcement to be made soon.
She was replying to Abdul Latiff Abdul Rahman (PN–Kuala Krai), who asked why e-hailing drivers were allocated only 300 additional litres,bringing their total monthly quota to 600 litres compared with 1,400 litres per month for taxi drivers.
Lim explained that this was because taxi drivers were paying RM2.05 per litre for RON95, the commercial vehicle rate, rather than the subsidised RM1.99 per litre.
