Some Malaysians will have to change their driving style next year when the price of their favorite fuel RON95 gets floated with the rest of fuel on sale in the country. RON95 petrol is the most popular fuel type amongst Malaysian car owners where about 90 per cent of drivers use it everyday as the subsidised price makes it one of the cheapest in the region.
Now news just in that the Domestic Trade and Consumerism Minister Datuk Seri Saifuddin Nasution has announced that only ‘Bantu Sara Hidup’ (BSH) recipients were qualified for the fuel subsidy and gave assurances that the gradual move to lift the RON95 petrol subsidy would be done in a manner that would not burden the people.
“The mechanism that will be used to gradually float RON95 is under the Finance Ministry.
“For now, the status quo remains where fuel prices will be announced weekly,” Saifuddin said at the announcement of the Petrol Subsidy Programme here.
So far, he said about 2.9 million BSH recipients who had vehicles with valid road tax would get petrol subsidies from Jan 1.
“The qualified BSH recipients are those who own 1,600cc cars; own cars over 10-years-old and above 1,600cc; own motorcycles of 150cc and below, as well as motorcycles over 150cc, seven years and above.
“The subsidy will be paid once every four months and will be banked directly into the recipients’ accounts,” Saifuddin said.
Qualified BSH car owners, the minister explained would get RM30 per month and motorcycle owners, RM12 per month.
“For those who have both car and motorcycle, they will get petrol subsidy for whichever is higher.”
Saifuddin also said the disabled would get petrol subsidies, but it would only be for the underprivileged.
This move will upset a lot of Malaysian car owners who have been enjoying cheap fuel for years.
This will also shift the sales of RON97 where affluent drivers of modern cars who have been using RON95 and saving money, will now shift to more expensive RON97 or even RON100 where applicable.
Saifuddin also added that fuel consumption in Malaysia was about 1.2 billion litres per month and only 10 per cent of vehicle users used RON97, while the rest used RON95.
Will this move stimulate the sale of hybrid car like the Hyundai Ioniq and Honda Jazz hybrid? Or will Malaysians learn to adjust their lifestyle and continue to drive ridicules distances to have a bowl of mee or satay on the weekends?
We will have to wait and see if food and wet market traders will use this to purposely raise their prices and the spiral effect will of course not be good for consumers in the long run.
Current fuel prices (5th October to 11th October 2019) are as follows:
1. RON 95 – RM2.08
2. RON 97 – RM2.60
3. Diesel – RM2.18
