KUALA LUMPUR, Nov 1 — PAS has urged Putrajaya to impose a ceiling price for fuel today, following an increase of 15 sen per litre for RON95, RON97 petrol and diesel pump price for this month.
The Islamist party also urged the government to subsidise the cost should pump prices exceed the ceiling price, claiming that a managed float price system left consumers vulnerable to continued increase of price.
“The government should fix a ceiling price for petrol retail price and the government must contain the balance from the ceiling price with subsidy,” PAS information chief Nasrudin Hassan said in a statement.
“This is because petrol price determination based on a managed float system exposes the public to continued petrol price hike.”
Malaysia scrapped the subsidies for RON95 petrol and diesel starting December 2014, a move which Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib Razak said in April this year had saved the government billions of ringgit.
PAS had already back then suggested a ceiling price to fuel retail price, with then PAS Research Centre executive director Dr Dzulkefly Ahmad saying that it will allow petrol station operators to compete with each other to offer the cheapest price.
The party also told Putrajaya today to review its formula to determine petrol and diesel price, by taking into account global fuel price, the country’s buffer reserve and local inflation rate.
PAS claimed the current price is inaccurate, citing current crude oil price of US$43.93 per barrell.
However, Malaysia bases its fuel retail price on the Mean of Platts Singapore benchmark price rather than crude oil.
The rise today hiked the price of RON95 to RM1.95 and diesel to RM1.90 per litre, while RON97 retails for RM2.30.
