PETALING JAYA: The public wheat flour subsidy has been terminated this year, according to Minister of Domestic Trade and Cost of Living Datuk Armizan Mohd Ali.
According to Sinar Harian, Armizan told the Dewan Rakyat that the production of subsidised wheat flour could not be continued as manufacturers cannot afford to produce the product at the controlled price of RM1.45 per kilogramme (kg).
“The government has also stopped subsidising sugar from Oct 26, 2013 and since then, only refined white sugar was controlled through a gazetted price control enjoyed by all Malaysians including foreigners,” he added.
Armizan added that the government is implementing a retargeted subsidy that will only benefit a target group of eligible citizens, also mentioning a mechanism being developed at the ministry’s level targeting subsidised cooking oil to those eligible at the retail level, as quoted from the report.
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His answer was in response to Manndzri Nasib’s (BN-Tenggara) question on Tuesday (March 19) in the Dewan Rakyat, asking when will the nation be able to get government subsidised items such as sugar, flour, petrol and others.
Manndzri said that the subsidies were implemented to help ease the public’s burden.
Meanwhile, Armizan was quoted as saying that the government is also implementing a retargeted subsidy for diesel through the Subsidized Diesel Control System (SKDS 2.0) “to deal with the impact of the increasing price of goods to consumers.”
Furthermore, Armizan stated that the government has enforced the prohibition of RON95 petrol sales to vehicles with foreign license plates in all petrol stations nationwide.
Vehicles with foreign license plates can only fill up with RON97 petrol in petrol stations while for subsidised diesel can only be filled up with not more than 20 litres for petrol stations within 50 kilometres (km) from the Singapore border and Thailand as well as 30 km from the Indonesia’s border and Brunei.
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