THE government needs at least six months to deal with the problem of diesel subsidy leakages in the country, said Domestic Trade and Cost of Living Minister Salahuddin Ayub.

He said this will give parties in charge reasonable time to identify the causes and mobilise the necessary assets to curb diesel smuggling activities, which is among the causes of subsidy leakages.

He said the ministry in a meeting this morning established steering and technical committees to monitor the problem. The meeting was chaired by ministry secretary-general Azman Mohd Yusof.

“Give us six months to monitor developments. We will work with several other ministries because the 2,100 enforcement officers under the ministry will not be able to do the job themselves.

“The six-month period should be sufficient because previously, through Ops Naga, we also took six months to make sure our waters were not invaded,” Salahuddin said after presenting school uniforms and schooling aid to students in Kuala Terengganu today.

In Budget 2023 that was presented on February 24, Prime Minister Anwar Ibrahim, who is also finance minister, raised the issue of leakages of diesel subsidies, with almost RM10 billion worth of diesel subsidies misappropriated in 2022. – Bernama, March 1, 2023.