Malaysians May Get Additional BR1M If Petrol Prices Continue To Go Up
If the government gains extra revenue from the increasing global oil prices, the people might receive additional cash aid.
By Tang Ruxyn — 16 Nov 2017, 06:19 PM
The petrol prices for this week have gone up
The new prices are as stated below (16 - 22 November):
i. Six sen increase for RON97 to RM2.66 per litre
ii. Seven sen increase for RON95 petrol to RM2.38 per litre
iii. Five sen increase for diesel to RM2.25 per litre
The new prices reached a record high since the weekly managed-float system was introduced in April.
This comes as Brent crude oil price traded at USD64.27 per barrel early last week, a two-year high since May 2015.
Following the oil price hike, Second Finance Minister Datuk Seri Johari Abdul Ghani has said that the government is considering to give additional 1Malaysia People's Aid (BR1M)
Johari said recipients may receive an additional temporary cash aid to cope with the increasing fuel prices, if the government were to see an increase in revenue due to rising global oil prices.
According to him, the government would earn an additional income of about RM300 million for every USD1 per barrel increase in world crude oil price.
"If the government gets more revenue from increased oil prices, we can use the extra income to help the low-income group such as BR1M recipients. Most likely, we can consider BR1M extra," he said at the Dewan Rakyat yesterday, 15 November, as reported by Bernama.
Johari also said that the impact faced by Malaysians was only one sen since the introduction of the weekly fuel price system
"I want to provide a little information. Since we implemented the weekly floating system, petrol prices have gone down 12 times and increased about 19 times.
"The total decrease is 74 sen while total increase is 75 sen. If we look at the impact as a whole, there is only one sen increase since the implementation of this system," Johari said, as reported by Berita Harian.
He was responding to a question by Nga Kor Ming (DAP-Taiping) on the impact of the weekly managed floating system on the petrol prices during the Dewan Rakyat sitting.
New Straits Times (NST) reported that the Titiwangsa MP also answered an additional question posed by Nga, on the subsidy given for oil prices.
To this, Johari said that RM1.6 billion in fuel subsidies would only be given to a certain segment of society, mainly targeted at fishermen and farmers, to stimulate the economy.
It was also learned that the government has no plans on changing the weekly fuel price mechanism
Speaking to reporters after the 'Global Marketing Summit 2017' today, 16 November, Johari stressed that the government will continue to monitor the global fuel prices and only intervene when the prices reach a critical level.
According to theSun Daily, he did not give any further details on what is considered as critical until it requires addressing. He explained that it could not be disclosed as the information was sensitive and would lead to an uncertainty in the economy.
He added that the government has no plans to introduce and set a ceiling price system.
"Ceiling price is a policy matter, I cannot decide and say openly. It needs to be discussed with the Prime Minister and Cabinet because it is very sensitive issue as it involves all the businesses in Malaysia.
"If (we) say it wrongly, people will interpret differently and this can lead to uncertainty in the environment," he was quoted as saying by Bernama.