![Rafizi: Removing fuel subsidies will see 80% of Malaysian households getting cash transfers 01]()
Economy Minister Rafizi Ramli has said that the blanket removal of subsidies such as for fuel should help Malaysia narrow its budget deficit and avoid imposing “too many taxes,” while cash transfers will be helping households manage the inflation rates.
If successfully implemented, the targeted subsidy programme will save the country at least RM 4.68 million a year, strengthening position fiscally. On a larger scale, this would also prevent further taxes hitting the rakyat in the future, Rafizi said to Bloomberg.
While mooted for some time, the government sees the blanket removal of the current fuel subsidy structure as a key component in its fiscal consolidation efforts.
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Also Read: MoF: Removal of fuel subsidy might worsen Malaysia's inflation to around 11%
![Rafizi: Removing fuel subsidies will see 80% of Malaysian households getting cash transfers 01]()
“We should be able to meet the 5 percent (of gross domestic product, GDP) budget deficit target that was set for 2023. The plan is to bring it down further to 4.6 percent. With subsidy rationalisation going full swing in 2024, hopefully then we will be able to consolidate it even further in 2025 to meet our 3.5 percent target,” said Rafizi.
On the efforts to mitigate rising inflation, Rafizi explained that the government will be looking at a form of transferring cash to eligible families.
“At least 80 percent of the households will benefit, one way or another, from different kinds of cash transfers when we move towards targeted subsidies. Obviously, the move will have some inflationary impact,” he further detailed.
Also Read: Government looking to implement targeted fuel subsidy for diesel and RON95 in 2024
![Rafizi: Removing fuel subsidies will see 80% of Malaysian households getting cash transfers 02]()
To determine the cash transfer and targeted fuel subsidy recipients, the government will rely on data from PADU (Pangkalan Data Utiliti Kebangsaan), an integrated database that allows the sharing of information between government agencies, such as LHDN and JPJ.
If everything progresses as planned, the government could implement the targeted fuel subsidy as early as Q2 2024, with the cash transfers following soon after.
Also Read: MoF: Fuel subsidy to be reviewed, RM 28 billion subsidy cost for 2022 if no intervention
“Better late than never.” Some despise it, others begrudgingly agree with it but he swears by it… much to the chagrin of everyone around him. That unfortunately stems from all of his project cars not running most of the time, which in turn is testament to his questionable decision-making skills in life. A culmination of many wrongs fortunately making a right; much like his project cars on the rare occasions they run, he’s still trying to figure out if another project car is the way to go.
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