The government will gather the necessary data to determine the number of people in the M40 group eligible for the targeted Petrol Subsidy Programme (PSP) as announced in the 2020 Budget yesterday.
Domestic Trade and Consumer Affairs Minister Saifuddin Nasution Ismail said his ministry would discuss with the Finance Ministry and relevant agencies like the RTD to work out a mechanism to identify those eligible.
"This is unlike the B40 group for whom we already have data on those eligible for PSP, which, as I announced last Monday, is around 2.9 million drivers based on Bantuan Sara Hidup (BSH) and RTD records.
"But for the M40 group we don’t have data yet on those eligible; we will get the details and set up a database,” he told reporters after attending Tesco’s Deepavali contribution programme in Subang Jaya today.
He said this when asked on the mechanism for giving the "Kad95" under the PSP to non-BSH recipients, who will be entitled to a petrol subsidy of 30 sen per litre up to 100 litres per month for cars and 40 litres per month for motorcycles.
Saifuddin Nasution said Finance Minister Lim Guan Eng said in his budget speech that the government has allocated RM2.2 billion for the PSP scheme, which is targeted to benefit about eight million vehicle owners.
He said by deducting 2.9 million people in the B40 group from this figure, it would mean another estimated five million people would be eligible, including from the M40 group.
"That is our estimate but we will work out the details to ensure they are eligible based on the criteria set,” he said.
Lim said the PSP, which will be implemented in Peninsular Malaysia in January next year, is to fulfil a promise made by the Pakatan Harapan government.
It has two categories, with the first being eligible BSH (B40) recipients who will be given RM30 petrol subsidy per month for cars and RM12 per month for motorcycles, with the money to be deposited into their accounts every four months.
The Kad95 is for the second category of recipients under the PSP.
Meanwhile, Special Parliamentary Select Committee on the Budget chairperson Mustapa Mohamed said Malaysia needs to improve its data quality system in order to address the unemployment and other issues in the gig economy and informal sectors.
He said the system upgrade is crucial as it would help the government in formulating related policies.
”We do not have enough information about the new economies and we have to make sure the focus is given to those areas which are more relevant and important to all.
”Jobs can be created anywhere but the hard part is when they involved the informal sectors.
“As the government, we need to improve the quality of data of all areas, including those in the digital sector, ” he said at the "Centre Stage: Budget 2020 Town Hall" session organised by the Asian Strategy and Leadership Institute (Asli) and Higher Education Youth Association, also in Subang Jaya, today.
Mustapa, who is also member of Parliament for Jeli, said, “Things are transforming rapidly and our data collection machinery has got to be revisited.
”It is important so that we have the real data that is relevant to the current landscape. (The) changes are very rapid and if you are behind the curve, then we might come out with a wrong policy,” he said.
On the other hand, Mustapa asserted that the government needs to have a better understanding of micro issues.
”I think we do not have a thorough understanding of what's happening on the ground such as in the tourism and construction (sectors) or even the nature of graduate employment.
”A better understanding would definitely help the government come up with plans for our youngsters’ future, ” he said.
Themed "Breaking the Youth’s Income Ceiling", the town hall was aimed at understanding the 2020 Budget, especially in deliberating its embedded concept of the Shared Prosperity Vision 2030 and enabling awareness cultivation among youths on Malaysia’s socio-economic projection.
The session was moderated by Asli chief executive officer Melissa Ong. - Bernama
