The Malaysian finance ministry has put up a Facebook post explaining how the government assists diesel users in this global fuel crisis. It starts by saying that since the West Asia crisis erupted, the administration has not been fully floating the diesel price; it has been subsidising a portion of it for five straight weeks. It adds that refined diesel is still at US$250 (RM993) a barrel and that our diesel is among ASEAN’s cheapest. The Budi Diesel monthly cash assistance, upped from RM200 to RM300 in March, stays at RM300 for April, and according to the finance ministry, benefits over 355,000 recipients (apply here if you satisfy the criteria). It is notable that going by this week’s diesel price of RM6.72 a litre, RM300 ‘subsidises’ just 65.6 litres in a month (RM6.72 – RM2.15 = RM4.57 of ‘subsidy’ per litre). As most diesel vehicles in Malaysia have over-70-litre tanks, your second tank this month would sting quite a bit. Outside of this, RM2.15 a litre is the price to be paid by those in Sabah, Sarawak and Labuan (with 50-, 100- or 150-litre limits per transaction depending on vehicle type), as well as goods vehicles (over 343,000 vehicles approved). RM1.88 a litre is for land public transport (over 25,000 vehicles approved including buses, taxis, ambulances and fire engines) while RM1.65 a litre is for fishermen (over 10,000 recipients). Since the MyKad system has been quite successful for Budi Madani RON 95 (Budi95) petrol, the government is mulling the same for diesel, although we wonder how the MyKad is going to distinguish between private, public and goods vehicles – all three currently pay different prices for diesel, and there are five different diesel prices (unsubsidised, ‘RM300-subsidised’, RM2.15, RM1.88 and RM1.65). This problem does not exist for Budi95 petrol – you either get it or you don’t. Compare prices between different insurer providers to save the most on your car insurance renewal compared to other competing services. Many payment method supported and you can pay with instalment using Atome, Grab PayLater or Shopee SPayLater. Use the promo code 'PAULTAN' when you checkout for 10% discount!
