PUTRAJAYA: The Finance Ministry is looking into a mechanism similar to that of Budi95 for the sale of subsidised diesel.
The ministry is likely to present the planned mechanism at the upcoming National Economic Action Council (NEAC) meeting or the next Cabinet meeting, Communications Minister and government spokesperson Datuk Fahmi Fadzil said.
“The next step is to review the targeted subsidy mechanism. We will begin examining the best approach to shift how subsidies are delivered – for example, from the current cash transfer model like Budi Individu and Budi Diesel, to a mechanism similar to Budi95,” he said.
Under the Budi Individu scheme, RM200 aid in cash is given to individuals earning below RM100,000 a year while under Budi Diesel, RM400 is given to farmers and smallholders monthly.
“For the fisheries sector, the Agriculture and Food Security Ministry is in talks with the Malaysian Fisheries Development Authority on a slightly different mechanism,” said Fahmi.
He had been asked if the government was aware of a report that diesel smugglers were using local fishermen for their operations.
Fahmi also said the Cabinet had agreed that Malaysia should upgrade its biodiesel mandate from B10 to B15, with an intermediate B12 phase.
“This transition will not involve any additional cost to the government and will use the existing biodiesel blending infrastructure.
“The biodiesel blending rate will increase from B10 to B15, starting with a B12 blend.”
Biodiesel blending mandates are policies requiring a percentage of renewable fuel – typically palm oil-based methyl ester – to be mixed into fossil diesel.
The mandate levels represent the percentage of biodiesel in the mix. B15 refers to a fuel mix of 15% palm methyl ester and 85% petroleum diesel.
