Pak Lah's Appreciation To BN Voters With New Petrol Price Hike

MALAYSIKINI

Fuel hike: 78 sen more to RM2.70 per litre

Jun 4, 08 4:55pm

The government has just announced that petrol price will go up by 78 sen at midnight - a 40.6 percent jump from RM1.92 per litre to RM2.70.

MCPXThe price of diesel will go up RM1, or 63.3 percent - from RM1.58 per litre to RM2.58.
The price hikes are among government measures to cut the spiralling bill for oil subsidies, which is expected to amount to RM56 billion this year.

At a press conference held at 5.30pm, Prime Minister Abdullah Ahmad Badawi also announced that the government plans to offer rebates to motorists to offset the fuel price increase.Under the scheme, vehicles below 2000cc will receive a RM625 rebate annually - to compensate for 800 litres of fuel used under the new price.Meanwhile, motorbikes will be given a rebate of RM120. The money will be paid by postal order.

Rebate will be paid when motorists renew the road-tax for their vehicles.The government is expected to save RM4 billion under this new subsidy restructure.

However, the government is slowly expected to head towards totally abolishing the fuel subsidy.If petrol is to be sold at full market prices, it could be as high as almost RM4 a litre - about 50 percent above current levels.Since 2004, petrol has gone up by 97.1 percent, while diesel increased by a whopping 231 percent [see chart below].

Higher TNB tariffs Abdullah also announced that the road tax for vehicles above 2,000cc will be reduced by RM200. For motorbikes above 250cc, their road tax will be slashed by RM50.The diesel subsidy for fishermen will be fixed at RM1 per litre while vessel owners will have to pay RM1.20 per litre.

The premier also announced a price hike in gas supply for electrical and industry sectors.The premier further said that the electricity tariffs too would be increased.

He added that the power tariff rate would remain the same for households which use about 200 kilowatt of electricity, which would still cost them RM43.60.Any usage beyond this would fall under the new price which will be announced by power supplier Tenaga Nasional soon.