PUTRAJAYA (May 23): The government will do away with the weekly determination of the retail prices of petrol and diesel that was introduced in April last year, Prime Minister Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamad said today.

Fuel prices will also remain unchanged for now, he added.

“Global oil prices have risen above US$70 per barrel, but fuel pump prices remain the same (for now),” he told a press conference, following the new cabinet's first meeting today.

“But we will have to study whether to reduce or increase fuel prices (going forward),” Dr Mahathir said. “Our policy is not to have (the current) weekly (price) changes (that is) according to the world market price."

The decision is in line with the Pakatan Harapan coalition’s manifesto ahead of the 14th general election (GE14) on May 9, of reintroducing fuel subsidies to targeted groups.

Under the Barisan Nasional government, a weekly fuel price mechanism was implemented based on the average Means of Platts Singapore (Mops) price, as well as the average ringgit strength against the US dollar in the previous week. 

Prior to that, the prices of petrol and diesel had been placed on a managed monthly float system since Dec 1, 2014, following removal of fuel subsidies.

However, fuel prices have remained unchanged since April this year, ahead of GE14, when Brent crude oil was traded at around the price of US$67 per barrel. At press time, Brent oil was trading at US$79.12 per barrel.