PUTRAJAYA, Jan 19 — Economy Minister Rafizi Ramli today said that the proposed targeted subsidy mechanism will be decided by the Cabinet next week.

He also hinted at the possibility of the targeted subsidy mechanism being rolled out by the government in the second quarter of the current year.

"We sent the paper to the Cabinet today. The papers outlining the method and the allocated amount for the targeted subsidy will be presented for discussion next week.

"Once the decision is made on the method including eligible groups, how much, who will get it and so on, it will allow the government to announce the forms of targeted subsidy assistance,” he said during a news conference at the Department of Statistics Malaysia here.

When asked for further details of the mechanism, he said to wait for the Cabinet to make its decision and that Prime Minister Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim would announce that in due course.

"After next week, it is up to the prime minister to decide an appropriate time to make the announcement.

"Once the announcement has been made, we can expect more people to register with the system,” he added, referring to the Central Database System (Padu).

On January 2, Anwar officially launched Padu to pave the way for a fairer distribution of targeted subsidies for Malaysians in need.

Padu — now considered the most comprehensive database established by the government to date — is a system containing individual and household profiles encompassing citizens and permanent residents in Malaysia.

The objective of Padu is to provide a safe, comprehensive and near real-time national main database that enables more accurate data analytics to be produced as well as for policy formulation and data-driven decision-making processes, besides enabling targeted policy implementation to balance the fiscal position.