KUALA LUMPUR: The Finance Ministry has announced a reduction in the retail prices of RON95 and RON97 petrol, as well as diesel, to RM1.93 per litre, RM2.23 per litre, and RM2.04 per litre respectively from tomorrow until Jan 11.
In a press statement issued today, its minister Lim Guan Eng said the prices would change weekly based on the automatic pricing mechanism (APM), in line with the global trend of falling oil prices.
“The price announcement will be made every Friday and will be enforced from Saturday until the following Friday.
“It must be emphasised that the new pricing has taken into account the commission or margin for the petrol station operators, as approved by the Cabinet on Jan 2,” he said.
Lim added that the adjustments made to the retail price of the petroleum product has taken into account the views of all the stakeholders including Petroleum Dealers Association of Malaysia (PDAM) who met the prime minister Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamad to discuss their profit margin.
PDAM had also asked the government to raise the fuel sale commission for fuel station operators to reduce any loss they might face due to the fuel price float.
“The government has agreed for the margin to be adjusted where RON95 petrol is now RM0.15 per litre, up 23%. For diesel, the margin for diesel is now RM0.10 per litre, up 42%,” he added.
The margin has not been adjusted since 2008.
The finance minister reiterated the government’s commitment to stabilise the retail prices of petroleum products while maintaining prices that will benefit the people.
“This means when the price for petroleum in the global market drops, the retail prices for petroleum products will also be reduced for the users to enjoy the benefit of immediate reduction in petrol prices,” he said.
However, when the prices increase, retail prices for petroleum products would be retained at not more than RM2.20 per litre and RM2.18 per litre for RON95 and diesel respectively, through subsidies.
This will be maintained until the targeted subsidiea for RON95 is carried out in mid year and before the prices for petroleum products are floated according to market price.
“This is an new initiative by the Pakatan Harapan government which has not been done before.”
