Malaysia gov’t continues fuel subsidy: official

A petro station in Malaysia. (Photo: paultan.org)

Kuala Lumpur (VNA) – The Malaysian government still has sufficient funds to continue to provide fuel subsidies to the people despite rising global crude oil prices, Finance Minister Tengku Zafrul Abdul Aziz has said.

The government still has enough money and will continue to support the people in terms of protecting their livelihoods, especially that of the vulnerable groups, he told reporters on June 10.

Malaysia’s inflation target for this year is still between 2.3 percent and 3.3 percent, the minister said, adding that the government will continue to monitor global oil prices to see the long-term plan where one of the measures is to implement a targeted subsidy.

He said the amount of the subsidies for this year will reach 70 billion ringgit (15.9 billion USD). Based on Brent oil price forecast for May 2022, the amount of fuel subsidy has reached 5 billion ringgit a month.

He emphasised that government revenue has also rose although the increase is not as high as that of subsidies. However, it will continue to monitor as this is not only a phenomenon in Malaysia but also at the global level, he said./.