PETALING JAYA: The government has been urged to introduce a targeted petrol subsidy initiative in the upcoming 2019 Budget to tackle the possibility of higher world petrol prices next year.
Federation of Malaysian Consumers Association (Fomca) deputy president, Mohd Yusof Abdul Rahman, said an increase in petrol prices may force the government into raising the retail price of RON95 petrol, which could have a big impact as it would drastically raise the cost of living for the people.
He said one way to reduce the impact would be via a targeted petrol subsidy, which needs to be introduced in the 2019 Budget.
“We understand the challenges faced by the government in terms of finances. But the main focus has to remain on reducing the people’s cost of living.
“If there is a review of petrol prices next year, it could have a major impact. A targeted subsidy is the right initiative to reduce this impact as it would only be given to those who truly deserve it,” he said.
Mohd Yusof said the government would be wise to continue several initiatives and incentives undertaken by the previous administration such as the 1Malaysia People’s Aid (BR1M) and Klinik 1Malaysia, which he said greatly benefits the people.
Fomca, he said, also hoped that education scholarships would be retained, including the MyBrain15 programme.
On the possibility of the government introducing new taxes, Mohd Yusof said this has to be imposed only on the high-income earners in order to not burden those from the lower and middle-income groups.
“Any new tax should not burden the people. These include soda tax, digital tax as well as environment tax,” he said, adding that he hoped the government would not reduce allocations for the healthcare sector.