Petrol RON95 mungkin naik lagi

Oleh: DS Ismail Sabri Yaakob

PUTRAJAYA — Kenaikan harga petrol RON95 mungkin berlaku dan oleh itu, rakyat perlu bersedia untuk menghadapinya. Kemungkinan itu adalah memandangkan kajian mengenai rasionalisasi subsidi dijangka akan dibuat sekali lagi bulan depan.

  Saya ingin rakyat bersedia. Saya tidak mahu nanti rakyat terkejut, kata harga minyak tidak naik tetapi akhirnya naik juga. Jadi rakyat kena bersedia untuk sebarang kemungkinan kerana trend penurunan harga minyak tidak mungkin berlaku. Ini bermakna sama ada harga akan kekal atau pun naik. Jadi ia bergantung kepada kajian itu. Kali terakhir harga RON95 naik ialah pada Disember lalu sebanyak lima sen kepada RM1.90 seliter.

  Sebelum ini kerajaan memberi jaminan bahawa harga minyak petrol RON95 tidak akan dinaikkan buat masa ini. Kerajaan masih mengkaji untuk mengambil tindakan yang sewajarnya mengikut pasaran minyak dunia. Kalau kekal dengan keadaan sekarang kemungkinan besar dari segi unjurannya. Kenaikan harga petrol RON95 telah dibincangkan semasa mesyuarat pasca-kabinet Rabu lepas, namun tiada keputusan dicapai berhubung perkara itu. 

Subsidy burden is expected to double this year - DPM

by DPM Tan Sri Muhyiddin Yassin

PUTRAJAYA - The subsidy burden is expected to double this year from RM10.32 billion to RM20.58 billion. The country could no longer maintain the current subsidies in remarks signalling the inevitability of price hikes.

  Yes, we are subsidising but we cannot sustain subsidies on the same amount. So there are ways in which we are trying to reduce subsidy costs like the increase in price of sugar. We are doing it in stages.

  Subsidy costs has also doubled from RM10.32 billion in 2010 to an expected cost of RM20.58 billion in 2011. RM18 billion is subsidy for petroleum-related sectors.

  Malaysia’s low purchasing power, coupled with rising prices, is putting pressure on the PM administration to pump more public funds into existing subsidies.

  The move is seen as necessary to avoid public unrest over the escalating cost of living, as well as to counter Pakatan Rakyat’s (PR) attacks on the government’s previous plans of phasing out subsidies.

  PM said on April 1 that the recent surge in the cost of living may force the government to slow subsidy cuts, and that while the government was committed to reducing the nation’s deficit, “we don’t want rising prices in Malaysia to be a major burden for the people.”

  He has already announced the government’s willingness to fork out an additional RM4 billion in addition to the RM10 billion allocated for subsidies this year.

  Analysts and politicians believe that problems affecting the economy — distorted and inefficient markets, lack of competition, low wages and a weak ringgit — will be the biggest problem for the BN administration as the country heads into the next general election, speculated to be held by year end.

  The government is now preparing the public for more cuts.

  We cannot guarantee there will be no increase in the prices of goods. We cannot control the prices but where the government can intervene to decrease public burden then we will.  

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a note: The 2010 Prices and Wages report by Swiss Bank UBS AG shows that residents in KL have only 33.8 per cent the purchasing power of their counterparts in New York, 42 per cent that of London, 33.7 per cent that of Sydney, 32.6 per cent that of Los Angeles and 31.6 per cent that of Zurich.