May date for new fuel subsidy system

TARGET groups from the middle and lower-income groups will be eligible to enjoy subsidised petrol and diesel rates starting May next year, said Deputy Finance Minister Datuk Chor Chee Heung.

“We are still in the process of determining the various groups from different income levels that will benefit from the new mechanism.

“What’s for sure is that the subsidies are only for Malaysians,” he said.

As of September, the government subsidies totalled RM3.54bil, he told Hamim Samuri (BN - Ledang).

Domestic Trade, Cooperatives and Consumerism Minister Datuk Seri Ismail Sabri Yaakob, in winding up for his ministry later, said the Government was still deliberating on the best methods to ensure that subsidised petrol was not purchased by foreigners.

This would include studies on the engine capacity of their vehicles and the amount of petrol they purchased, he said.

On enforcement action, Ismail Sabri said the ministry had seized 25,097 litres of petrol costing RM44,406.30 during their operations from Jan 1 to Oct 31.

The ministry also seized 202,413kg of smuggled sugar worth RM328,699 during the same period.

Meanwhile, Chor also said that Bank Negara had detected 48,555 fake bank notes, mostly in the RM50 and RM100 denominations, as of September.

“This is a small figure, as it represents only 13 fake ones for every one million bank notes in circulation,” he said.