Tuesday 23 Apr 2024
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This article first appeared in The Edge Financial Daily on December 31, 2019

KUALA LUMPUR: The government is postponing the targeted fuel subsidy programme’s implementation, which was to begin in January 2020.

In a statement yesterday, Domestic Trade and Consumer Affairs Minister Datuk Seri Saifuddin Nasution Ismail said the decision to defer the Petrol Subsidy Programme (PSP) until further notice was made at a cabinet meeting on Dec 18.

Saifuddin said prior to the PSP’s implementation, fuel prices will still be based on the existing price mechanism.

He said this decision was to ensure sufficient time to hold briefings and explanation sessions to prepare consumers for the PSP’s implementation.

Saifuddin said the postponement is also to provide more time for the finance ministry to register the subsidy’s beneficiaries, totalling eight million people from the below 40% and middle 40% income groups.

The government has allocated RM2.4 billion for the PSP in Budget 2020.

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