The Third Force: When the administration of Dato’ Seri Najib Tun Razak decided to remove fuel subsidies and float petrol prices, Pakatan Harapan began dishing out calculations on a regular basis almost as soon as the government would announce petrol prices. Leaders of the coalition seemed to have their fingers on global pricing mechanisms and would give you figures to the tenth decimal place. Whenever the government refuted their estimates, they would accuse Najib of conning the people while milking them of hard-earned cash.
Well, what happened?
What happened to all the ‘magic’ math and real time calculations we were presented with? According to Lim Guan Eng, the government had allocated an estimated RM3 billion in subsidies and needed to wait until year end to know exact figures. But does that not stand in stark contrast to the zeal and genius with Pakatan used to dish out tenth-decimal estimates?
Seriously, has the coalition finally lost its ‘magical’ touch with global pricing mechanisms, or does Guan Eng need until the year end to decide how much petrol his family can gulp down? Perhaps it is now Guan Eng who is milking the people of hard-earned cash?
PUTRAJAYA: The government will retain the price of RON95 and diesel at RM2.20 and RM2.18 per litre, respectively.
Finance Minister Lim Guan Eng said that the government had allocated an estimated RM3 billion in subsidies for both the RON95 and diesel until the year end.
“I have issued a statement on RON95. The price has been set at RM2.20 per litre.
“The price of RON95 and diesel will not be put on a float system,” he added.
He also verified that the allocation may vary.
“The sum may be lower, depending on the global price of crude oil per barrel. We cannot give an exact figure as the global price of crude oil changes weekly, we need to wait until the end of the year to know the real figures,” said Lim in a press conference at the ministry here today.
On the possibility of a reduction in fuel prices in the upcoming months, Lim said it was difficult to do so as the global crude prices were on the incline.
He however stressed that the government would retain the price of diesel and RON95 despite the uptrend.
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