Weekly fuel float kicks off
Saturday, 5 Jan 2019
by hemananthani sivanandam, yimie yong, and clarissa chung
Good move: With the new system, motorists are hoping to save a little extra every week.
PETALING JAYA: The new weekly fuel float pricing system has kicked off with a reduction in the price of RON95 and RON97 by 27 sen a litre.
The price of RON95 is now set at RM1.93 (from RM2.20) per litre, with the new weekly price of RON97 fixed at RM2.23 per litre (from 2.50).
Diesel will see a reduction of 14sen, from RM2.18 to RM2.04 per litre from today.
Finance Minister Lim Guan Eng said the Cabinet agreed to set the retail fuel prices on a weekly basis beginning today.
“The retail price of petroleum will be streamlined every week under the Automatic Pricing Mechanism (APM) formula, in line with the falling price of crude oil in the world market at the moment,” he said in a statement yesterday.
Lim said the announcement on fuel prices would be done every Friday, with the adjusted prices to kick in the next day and last until the following Friday.
The minister said the decision to adjust the retail fuel prices took into account the views of all stakeholders involved, including the Petroleum Dealers Association of Malaysia (PDAM).
“It must be noted that the new pricing has taken into account the additional commission or margin of petrol station owners, which the Cabinet approved on Wednesday,” he added.
image: https://www.thestar.com.my/~/media/online/2019/01/04/23/38/new-fuel-prices.ashx?la=en
The PDAM met Prime Minister Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamad on Wednesday to highlight their concerns over the weekly float system.
Lim said PDAM wanted a review of the margin rate for petrol station owners which was one of the components under the APM system.
He said that the government had agreed to streamline the margin of petrol station operators to 15 sen per litre for RON95 and RON97, and 10 sen per litre for diesel.
“This is an increase of 2.81sen per litre for petrol and three sen per litre for diesel,” he said, adding that the margin was last revised in 2008.
Lim said the government was committed to implementing a retail fuel price stabilisation policy that would benefit the people.
“This means that when world petrol prices drop, the retail petrol price will also fall to allow consumers to benefit immediately,” he said.
Lim said to protect consumers from an increase in petrol prices, retail petrol prices will be set at levels below RM2.20 per litre for RON95, and RM2.18 per litre for diesel through the implementation of subsidies.
“This new method is an initiative by the Pakatan Harapan government which was never been practised before,” he added.
He said targeted subsidies for RON95 would be introduced in the middle of the year.
Read more at https://www.thestar.com.my/news/nation/2019/01/05/weekly-fuel-float-kicks-off/#3XXDeUIoimarBRvk.99
