Budi 95: No restriction on how many times you can pump RON95, but gov’t will monitor scheme for abuse

There will be no restriction on how many times you can fill up your car with RON 95 petrol under the Budi 95 subsidy scheme. According to finance minister II Datuk Seri Amir Hamzah Azizan, Malaysians eligible for the fuel will be allowed to refill their vehicles as many times a day as they see fit, as the Malay Mail reports.

However, he said there will be measures in place that will prevent abuse and profiteering. “You can refill as many times as you want. What we are looking at is unusual behaviour and people trying to abuse the system by topping up repeatedly in a short span and reselling fuel. That is what we will block,” he said at a media briefing today.

“Basically, they cannot refill every ten minutes. We will ensure there’s no abuse,” he said. He said that MyKad verification at petrol stations, combined with backend data analytics will allow the government to flag abnormal refuelling patterns. If necessary, the system can temporarily halt subsidised transactions linked to the same card until checks are made.

Amir Hamzah said that besides verifying MyKad and licence at pumps or via digital apps, protection measures will include ensuring petrol stations’ systems detect if refill patterns are abnormal and rejecting ICs that don’t match the national registration database. He added that the public should report stolen or lost ICs to prevent misuse.

He added that preventing leakages is a key goal of Budi 95, with the government looking to plug leakages in RON 95 subsidy, which has ballooned to nearly RM20 billion a year. According to finance ministry data, more than 20% of that was consumed by foreigners, businesses and from smuggling activities.

“Every ringgit saved is important and if we don’t control these leakages honest Malaysians end up paying the price. The money we save will go back into welfare programmes like Sara and more,” he said.