Study on cooking oil subsidy to be completed next year - minister

PARLIAMENT | A study to ensure that cooking oil subsidy can be optimised and to ascertain that its distribution reaches the target group, is expected to be completed next year, the Dewan Rakyat was told today.

Domestic Trade and Consumer Affairs Minister Alexander Nanta Linggi said the study which began last October, assessed the effectiveness of the implementation of the existing subsidy programme, covering the effectiveness of delivery, implementation mechanism, degree of leakage and costs involved.

“The next step is to propose a new mechanism to be implemented as a measure to increase the effectiveness of subsidy delivery to the target group,” he said during Minister's Question Time.

He was responding to a question from Robert Lawson Chuat (GPS-Betong) who wanted to know the steps to be taken by the Domestic Trade and Consumer Affairs Ministry in the future so that cooking oil and other subsidies under the ministry's regulations can be optimised in reaching the target group.

Nanta said the study covered the main subsidy programmes at the ministry including the cooking oil price stabilisation scheme, general-purpose wheat flour subsidy, essential goods distribution and the price standardisation programme for Sabah, Sarawak and Labuan.

“The government is concerned with the welfare of the rural community, specifically in getting basic necessities.

“The government will remain committed to maintaining the existing subsidy programmes to ensure that rural communities will be able to enjoy the same prices in the city, without having to bear the costs of transportation and distribution,” he added.

- Bernama