At a press conference today, Amir said this is the market price without subsidies, based on the average for May 2024, according to the automatic pricing mechanism formula.

The diesel price will be reviewed every week.

Amir added that 30,000 private diesel vehicle owners from the B40 category will receive RM200 under the Budi Madani subsidy programme tomorrow.

“The government will monitor the situation to prevent price instability. We expect to reduce leakage losses which currently amount to RM4 billion per year,” Amir said.

The previous price of diesel at RM2.15 per litre will be maintained for Sabah, Sarawak and Labuan.

Amir said the government hopes the targeted diesel subsidies can reduce smuggling and leakage that undermine and exploit the nation’s resources.

“The people also bear the impact of these activities.

“Through these targeted subsidies, smuggling and misuse will no longer be lucrative. They will be drastically reduced,” he said.

According to finance ministry figures, consumption of subsidised diesel increased sharply from 6.1 billion litres in 2019 to 10.8 billion litres in 2023, even though the number of diesel vehicles did not increase significantly.

As a result, diesel subsidies rose tenfold from RM1.4 billion in 2019 to more than RM14.3 billion in 2023.

“This indicates that the subsidies provided are ‘leaking’ and not benefitting the targeted groups,” Amir said.

As a result, he said the government suffered billions of ringgit in losses, reducing its ability to protect the people’s interests.

Despite the increase, the new price for diesel is among the lowest in the world.

Diesel is sold at RM4 per litre in Thailand, RM4.50 in Indonesia and nearly RM9 in Singapore.