THE government is testing the mechanism for a targeted fuel subsidy system, but no timeline has been set for its execution, Finance Minister Tengku Zafrul Abdul Aziz said. 

He said the government is testing several proposals to determine the best methods of execution before they are presented to the cabinet. 

The minister said based on a study by Bank Negara Malaysia, for every RM1 of fuel subsidy, 53 sen goes to the T20 group while 15 sen is utilised by the B40.

“We will test, and decide when we are comfortable with the mechanism and the platform of how we execute it.

“Obviously the customers’ experience would vary in the rural areas as well as the city,” he told reporters after witnessing the launch of the Edotco Sustainability Blueprint and Report 2021 in Kuala Lumpur today.

Tengku Zafrul said he would visit petrol stations to observe the mechanisms and proposed platforms being tested. 

The government had previously estimated that the subsidies for this year would reach RM77.7 billion, meaning the fuel subsidy would reach RM30 billion. 

“Last month, it (fuel subsidy) already reached RM5 billion,” he added. – Bernama, July 7, 2022.