THE price of the RON95 fuel will be gradually adjusted to reduce its impact on consumers, following the government’s plan to float all fuel prices next year, said Domestic Trade and Consumer Affairs Minister Saifuddin Nasution.

“The government has decided on a gradual increase as the impact will be tough if there is a sudden price hike.

“A gradual price increase is preferred to prevent drastic changes,” he told the Dewan Rakyat today.

Saifuddin was responding to a supplementary question from Khairy Jamaluddin (Rembau-BN) on how the government planned to float the price of RON95 next year and whether there will be a price ceiling.

“As to the price ceiling, we are told that the global oil price is expected to hover between US$50 and US$60 (per barrel), and as such there will be no need for a price ceiling,” said Saifuddin, who is also Kulim Bandar Baru MP.

The price of Brent crude today is around US$58.25 (RM244.24) per barrel.

Earlier, Saifuddin told Dewan Rakyat that the government decided to continue fixing the price of RM2.08 per litre for RON95 in Sabah, Sarawak and Labuan because it was not feasible for the government to give direct payments to the users there.

“We found small boats and petrol generators are used in many areas in Sabah and Sarawak. And currently, we don’t have a database on these users.

“As such, it was decided that the government will continue to subsidise RON95 in Sabah, Sarawak and Labuan.”

At US$58 per barrel, the government is subsidising 25sen per litre of RON95, said Saifuddin.

He added that Sabah uses around 63 million litres of RON95 per month while Sarawak uses 67 million litres per month. Labuan uses 2.8 million litres per month.

Saifuddin was responding to Ronald Kiandee’s (Beluran-PH) question on why Sabah, Sarawak and Labuan were not included in the petrol subsidy scheme announced on Monday. – October 10, 2019.