Govt considering increase of BR1M next year

KUALA LUMPUR: The government is considering increasing the amount of cash aid known as the 1Malaysia People's Aid (BR1M) next year.
Finance Minister II Datuk Seri Johari Abdul Ghani said this will be considered as a temporary assistance based on the additional government revenue from the escalating price of fuel.
He said the government acknowledges the pressure on headline inflation due to the escalation of fuel prices.
"In terms of global oil price, in 2008 the average was US$115 per barrel and that time BR1M never existed and our fuel price was RM2.30.
"But today it is at RM2.31 and government does notice this increase. Maybe if the increase is leading to higher government gains, the government can contribute to the society like adding an extra amount in BR1M, but the extra is not permanent," Johari told the Dewan Rakyat today when winding up the debate on 2018 Budget at the committee stage.
He said for every increase of US$1 in fuel price, the government's income increases by RM300 million.
"With our current budget of average fuel price of US$52 and the (estimation) that the average will reach to US$62 by end of 2018, which means a total of US$10 increase, multiply (that) by RM300 million, it would give us about RM3 billion of additional income," Johari explained.
He said for the last three to four years, Malaysia's core inflation had been 2.5% but the headline inflation is at 4%.
"This is because our past average global oil price was US$44 and now it's US$53, so that would definitely impact the weightage to our inflation," Johari said.
During the tabling of 2018 Budget, Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib Abdul Razak had announced that the government will continue giving out BR1M to 7 million recipients, with an allocation of RM6.8 billion.
He had said that BR1M for next year would be continued with a maximum payout of RM1,200.