BY: LIZAWATI MADFA
SHAH ALAM, FEB 1: The increase in petrol and diesel prices this month is most unreasonable, said the Opposition Leader, Datuk Seri Dr Wan Azizah Wan Ismail.
Wan Azizah who is also KEADILAN President said, citizens should not be burdened with this when there are no factor leading to any price increase.
She said, global crude oil prices and Ringgit Malaysia (RM) value against United States Dollar (USD) do not show significant differences.
“The Prime Minister, Dato’ Seri Najib Razak should immediately explain the reason behind these price increase.
“At the same time, the Federal Government is urged to reconsider the oil subsidy and reduce the Goods and Service Tax (GST) to alleviate the impact of economic downturn on the rakyat,” she said in a statement.
Wan Azizah said, checks done until 4pm yesterday showed that the average Brent crude oil price throughout January showed a monthly decline of 2.46 percent.
She added that reviews done on Bank Negara Malaysia’s (BNM) website until 5 pm yesterday showed that RM strengthened against USD by 1.4 percent.
“Last January 1, the retail prices of RON95 petrol and diesel went up 20 cents while RON97 petrol price increased by 15 cents.
“Effective February 1, 2017, the RON95 and RON97 petrol retail prices went up again by 20 cents while diesel retail price increased by 10 cents.
“That means that throughout the first month, and for the second time this year, Malaysians are burdened with 40 cents increase for RON95, 30 cent increase for diesel and 35 cents increase for RON97,” she said.
