The Petrol Subsidy Program (PSP) due to commence in January 2020 has been postponed. Apparently, according to the Domestic Trade and Consumer Affairs Minister, Datuk Seri Saifuddin Nasution Ismail, the decision to postpone had been made 12 days ago during a Cabinet meeting.

The reason given in a statement issued this afternoon by the ministry is to allow ‘fine-tuning of the implementation process’ by the Ministry of Finance. A new date of implementing the PSP has not been announced but in the meantime, more explanation and clarification will be made so as to ensure people fully understand the PSP.

The minister added that the postponement would also benefit eligible motorists who are registering for the PSP. As is well known in Malaysian culture, doing things at the last moment is a common bad habit and the Finance Ministry hopes this will make things less hectic for them to handle.

The postponement does not have any immediate effect for those who are entitled to receive subsidies since the mechanism would provide subsidies only once every 4 months. Eligible motorcycle and car owners in Peninsular Malaysia will receive RM12 a month and RM30 a month, respectively.

Meanwhile, all motorists purchasing RON95 fuel (to be upgraded to the Euro4M standard from this Wednesday) and diesel will continue to enjoy subsidies to maintain the retail prices at RM2.08 and RM2.18 a litre, respectively. Hopefully, the postponement also means that the plan to raise the petrol price by 1 sen each week until it reaches levels determined the Automatic Pricing Mechanism (based on factors that include global oil prices) will also be postponed.

The price of RON97 petrol, which is not subsidized, has been be determined by the Automatic Pricing Mechanism (APM) each week. RON100 petrol, available only from Petron, is not under any price control. The last price shown on its website was RM3.10 a litre.

First details of targeted fuel subsidies revealed, starting January 2020