The government has been urged to delay its plans to introduce the RON95 fuel subsidy rationalisation, which is scheduled to begin in June 2025, Malaysiakini reports.
Speaking in the parliament yesterday during a special parliamentary sitting, Bersatu President Datuk Seri Hamzah Zainudin said, “We should postpone any policy changes, especially our country’s fiscal policies, which could put pressure on costs and weaken business sentiment and ultimately burden consumers.”
“I want to give an example on the increase of RON95 prices this July, so the government will take into account, and if possible to postpone, we postpone,” he added.
The opposition leader cited “uncertain economic situation”, spurred by the ongoing tariff issues, as the reason for his proposed deferment.
In the same vein, the government recently announced the postponement of the Sales and Service Tax expansion, which was initially planned for May 2025 as announced in Budget 2025.
Bagan MP, Lim Guan Eng, also voiced similar concerns during the parliament sitting, urging the government to delay its plans to float the RON95 fuel prices in line with market rates.
Without subsidies, RON95 fuel prices currently stand at RM2.69 per litre (as opposed to RM2.05 per litre subsidised) according to Double Petrol, who operates a non-subsidised petrol station in Perlis.
The implementation of targeted RON95 subsidies has already been met with multiple delays and cancellations, ever since the proposal was first floated back in 2018. In its most current iteration, the subsidy rationalisation programme was initially planned for introduction in the second half of 2024, before being confirmed during the tabling of Budget 2025 to be implemented in June 2025.
On the other hand, diesel fuel subsidy rationalisation has now already been implemented in Malaysia since June 2024.
It was previously announced by the Second Minister of Finance, Datuk Seri Amir Hamzah Azizan, that the MyKad will be used in the RON95 subsidy rationalisation implementation. However, he said that the actual mechanism is still being “fine-tuned”.
