Ministry to identify recipients of cooking oil subsidy from DOSM data
Deputy minister Fuziah Salleh says data from the statistics department will help the authorities ensure the subsidy targets the right people
05/10/2023 (Free Malaysia Today), Petaling Jaya - The government will rely on data which the statistics department (DoSM) is currently reviewing when setting the limit of subsidised cooking oil packets for B40 and M40 households, Fuziah Salleh said.
The deputy domestic trade and cost of living minister said there were an estimated 5.8 million B40 and M40 households as well as 92,000 micro entrepreneurs who were eligible for the initiative.
According to DoSM, each household would use 4.8kg worth of cooking oil per month, while micro entrepreneurs would use between 400kg to 450kg every month.
“We will base the limit (of how many packets of subsidised oil that could be purchased) on the findings of the statistics department,” she told FMT.
Fuziah said entrepreneurs who would like to buy the cooking oil packets must register with the Companies Commission of Malaysia (SSM), adding that many had not done so.
“I have repeatedly urged them to register, while SSM waives the registration fee for the B40.”
A few days ago, Fuziah said that Putrajaya was mulling special identification cards to ensure that only eligible consumers could buy subsidised cooking oil.
She said that such measures were necessary as the government churned out 60 million packets of subsidised cooking oil every month, yet complaints about its availability persisted.
Today, Fuziah said the new mechanism to limit the sale of subsidised cooking oil packets would not lead to an increase in operation costs which would be passed on to consumers, as feared by consumer rights group Fomca.