Over 140,000 ‘Budi Individu’ applications approved

KUALA LUMPUR: The Ministry of Finance has announced that over 140,000 ‘Budi Individu’ applications have been approved as of October 31 this year, within a five-month period since the implementation of the diesel subsidy targeting initiative.

According to FMT, 65,000 Agri-Commodity Assistance applications were also approved during the same period.

Second Finance Minister Amir Hamzah Azizan reported to the Dewan Rakyat that the government has spent a total of RM160 million on both of these cash subsidy programs.

The Individual Assistance and Agri-Commodity Assistance were introduced following the re-targeting of the diesel subsidy in Peninsular Malaysia in June, aimed at individual diesel vehicle owners and small-scale farmers, livestock breeders, and planters.

The minister reported this while responding to a question from Aminolhuda Hassan (PH-Sri Gading) regarding the effectiveness of the diesel subsidy re-targeting effort under the Budi Madani initiative.

“The implementation of the diesel subsidy re-targeting has resulted in a sharp decline in diesel sales from petrol stations, around 25% or nearly 7 million liters per day, reflecting a reduction in smuggling activities,” said the minister.

“Meanwhile, commercial diesel sales have increased by nearly 50%, or 4 million liters per day, indicating how far the industrial sector has stopped purchasing subsidized diesel from petrol stations.”

Meanwhile, Amir stated that the diesel subsidy re-targeting initiative has so far generated savings of approximately 600 million ringgit per month, based on preliminary data.

“At the same time, the inflation rate remains under control,” he said.

“Recently, it has shown a decline, with the Consumer Price Index rising by 2.0% in July, 1.9% in August, and 1.8% in September.”