PORT KLANG, May 23 — The government has not yet made a decision regarding the implementation date for targeted diesel subsidies, said Minister of Domestic Trade and Cost of Living Datuk Armizan Mohd Ali.

He said that in principle, the government has agreed to implement targeted fuel subsidies this year as announced by Prime Minister Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim on Tuesday.

However, he said that the government will only set the implementation date for targeted diesel subsidies once the Cabinet is satisfied with the targeting mechanism, including the system and determination of the target groups to receive social assistance.

"...so, as soon as the government refines and strengthens the social assistance mechanism for the target groups, I believe the government will then announce the implementation date,” he told reporters after attending the Fleet Card Subsidised Diesel Control System (SKDS) 2.0 Handover Programme here today.

Armizan said the rationalisation of diesel subsidies also involves several other ministries, including the Ministry of Finance; the Ministry of Transport; the Ministry of Agriculture and Food Security; the Ministry of Plantation Industries and Commodities; and the Ministry of Entrepreneur Development and Cooperatives.

He said all the ministries inolved are ready and are only waiting for the government’s announcement on the implementation date before carrying out the fuel subsidy rationalisation.

Meanwhile, Armizan said the Ministry of Domestic Trade and Cost of Living (KPDN) will implement several measures to ensure no parties take advantage of price gouging on controlled goods after the diesel price adjustment is enforced.

"KPDN has approaches to address the possibility of certain parties engaging in price gouging on essential goods, which we will announce after the government finalises the date for the implementation of targeted diesel subsidies,” he said.

On Tuesday, Prime Minister Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim announced that the Cabinet agreed to implement a targeted diesel subsidy for consumers in Peninsular Malaysia involving 10 types of public transport vehicles and 23 types of goods vehicles under the diesel subsidy control system.

Anwar said the targeted diesel subsidy would not involve the T20 group and 3.8 million foreigners and would save the government around RM4 billion annually.

In another development, Armizan stated that a total of 28,000 land transport companies have registered and received approval under the SKDS 2.0 implementation.

Out of that number, he said 90,000 fleet cards have been issued by five major oil companies to eligible transport companies, with 33 types of land transport sector vehicles eligible to receive subsidised diesel under SKDS 2.0. — Bernama