KUALA LUMPUR: The government’s announcement that the prices of petrol and diesel will only be changed before the first week of 2019 ends has triggered former Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib Tun Razak tonmake comments synically.
In his comments Najib said: “This is not a u-turn yet. It is just a traffic light. This is not snatching quietly. This is snatching 30 cents for every litre in thenbroad day light.
“Petrol tax worth hundred millions of Ringgit (RM) for this week will be collected. Snatching for more than two months is not enough? For the newn year (2019) the people (rakyat) are “wet” again,” Najib said in his Facebookntoday (Dec.31).
Najib was responding to Finance Minister, Lim Guan Eng’s statement today that the retail price of petrol RON95 will remain at RM2.30 per litre for a few days in 2019. The unchanged prices also include petrol RON97 at RM2.50 per litre and diesel RM2.18 a litre.
Guan Eng in his statement stressed that the prices remain unchanged after taking opinions from all sectors including the demands from the Petroleum Dealers of Malaysia (PDAM) that is against retail prices of petroleum roducts being fixed on weekly basis.
“The PDAM demanded to review the margin rate for the owners of petrol stations – one of the components used to fix the retail price of petroleum products,” he said.
Meanwhile the Prime Minister, Tun Dr. Mahathir Mohamad will be chairing the Cabinetn meeting on Wednesday to decide on the newbprices of petrol and diesel.
Prior to this the media reported that Guan Eng said the government will fix the retail prices of petroleum products including RON95 to a price lower on weekly basis starting from January 1, 2019.
On December 22, Najib alleged the government had imposed a tax of 30 cents on every litre of petrol RON95 beginning December 2018.
According to Najib, based on the current Brent price at that time was SD52 per barrel and the price of RON95 should be between RM1.90 umntil RM2.00 compared to RM2.20. – Malaysia World New
