Loke: Malaysia to save billions by excluding 900,000 foreigners from RON95 subsidy

PUTRAJAYA, Sept 29 — The government stands to save billions in fuel subsidies by restricting nearly 900,000 foreigners from the Budi95 scheme, Transport Minister Anthony Loke said today.

In a press conference today, he said Road Transport Department (JPJ) records show that 878,279 foreign nationals, including over 18,000 permanent residents, currently hold Malaysian driving licences.

“This group will not be eligible for the fuel subsidies. That means previously our government had been providing subsidies to almost 900,000 foreigners.

“From this, we will save billions of ringgit every year,” he said.

Loke reiterated that a functioning MyKad and a valid Competent Driving Licence (CDL) were requirements to benefit from the Budi95 scheme.

On the latter, he said about 0.88 per cent of the nearly 17 million eligible Malaysians may face problems accessing the subsidy because their licence details have not been updated with their current MyKad information.

The three main groups affected are:

“To resolve this, JPJ has opened special counters at all its offices nationwide for Malaysians in these categories to update their details.

“They need to come in person as a thumbprint is required,” he said, adding that there will be no charge for the update.