The government is ready to take a new approach to help refine its planned targeted subsidy scheme, which start with diesel and electricity. According to Finance Minister Rafizi Ramli, the approach will involve collecting metrics of net disposable household income from January next year, and these will be used as a structuring measure to ensure targeted subsidies are distributed more accurately. Bernama reports.
He said the metrics will be integrated with the Pangkalan Data Utama (PADU) socio-economic database that was recently announced by Prime Minister Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim. The PADU database seeks to combine socioeconomic information from each household in the country to expedite the implementation of targeted subsidies.
“Once we get to that level (net disposable household income), we will get a clearer picture of the comparability of net disposable income for households, and that will allow us to refine any government programs and target subsidies accordingly,” said the Last weekend.
He said this would provide a truer picture than the current approach, which focuses on the B40, M40 and T20 income group segments and does not accurately indicate a household’s level of disposable income from household to household or take into account other factors such as the number of dependent children and individual location.
Asked by reporters whether the targeted subsidy distribution will also cover RON 95 gasoline, he said the government will focus first on electricity and diesel subsidy components that have been announced, and will monitor their effectiveness before announcing any decision on a specific RON 95 subsidy.
“When we start to switch to RON 95, of course, the consideration is higher, involving more people and families from each household. That is why we will make sure that PADU is available by 2024 and any decision on how to target RON 95 can be easily taken,” he explained.
