PM: Govt maintains subsidy for cooking oil in 1kg polybag

Focus

By SITI NURFATIHAH PIRDAUS

22 Jun 2022 04:40pm

Ismail Sabri said the cooking oil subsidy was maintained by the government and there was even the possibility of an increase in line with the increasing price of the palm oils.

SHAH ALAM - The cooking oil subsidy worth RM4 million is still maintained by the government this year, the Prime Minister says.

Datuk Seri Ismail Sabri Yaakob said the cooking oil subsidy was maintained by the government and there was even the possibility of an increase in line with the increasing price of the palm oils.

He refuted the speculations made by several parties since yesterday who claimed that the government had decided to revoke the cooking oil subsidy.

“I would like to explain that the government is still maintaining the cooking oil subsidy of RM4 billion so far this year and there is a possibility of an increase, especially when the price of palm oil increases.

“This is much higher than the previous subsidy of RM500 million in 2020 and RM2.2 billion in 2021.

“The government subsidised 60,000 tonnes of cooking oil per month, exceeding the actual needs of consumers, which is 55,000 tonnes per month,” he said in a special press conference today.

He added there was an additional 5,000 tonnes of cooking oil per month for the oil packets, hence there should not be an issue with the scarcity of the product.

However, he said the government had decided to stop the subsidy for bottled cooking oil for 1kg, 2kg, 3kg and 5kg which was introduced as a temporary subsidy in August 2021.

The temporary subsidy introduced as an effort to help ease the people’s burden during the Covid-19 pandemic was supposed to last for only three months following its implementation, but the government had extended it up until this year.

“This subsidy programme is temporary, for three months, at a cost of RM55 million per month.

“However, the government found that this subsidised bottled cooking oil was widely misused by commercial parties and it was more easily smuggled.

“Looking at the irregularities that took place, the government has decided that there is no need to continue the subsidy for bottled cooking oil because it no longer meets the objective it was implemented which was to help the people during the Covid-19 pandemic,” he added.