Petrol subsidy decision by year-end

Star - The Government will decide on its plan to slash subsidy for higher grade of petrol before the end of the year.

Deputy Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib Tun Razak said the plan would be implemented within a feasible period.

"I think it will not be later than this year. It will be very soon," he told reporters Monday after officiating the Kuala Lumpur Regional Centre for Arbitration 30th anniversary conference here.

Najib, who is the Cabinet Committee on Fuel Prices chairman, was asked how soon the plan would be carried out so that oil refineries would be prepared for the effects of the move on their operational costs.

He said the Government had asked Domestic Trade and Consumer Affairs Minister Datuk Shahrir Samad to study the proposal in terms of its practicality. more...