Malaysia Sells High Quality Fuel At Low Prices, This Observer From UGM

Illustration. (Photo: Doc. Antara)

JAKARTA - Malaysia is now in the spotlight because it sells fuel oil (BBM) at a low price.

Malaysia also changes fuel prices once a week and usually takes effect as of Thursday afternoon at 17.00 local time with the lowest quality fuel sold, namely gasoline with RON 95, then RON 97, and Diesel.

For information, the price of RON 97 fuel oil (BBM) in Malaysia is set to increase by eight cents to 3.91 Malaysian ringgit or around Rp. 13,337 per liter. Meanwhile, the price of RON 95 fuel is sold at 2.05 Malaysian ringgit, or around Rp. 6,993 per lite, while the price of diesel is priced at 2.15 Malaysian ringgit, or around Rp. 7,334 per per liter.

Observing the selling price of fuel in Malaysia which is relatively cheap, could this be determined in Indonesia?

Energy Economics observer at Gadjah Mada University (UGM), Fahmy Radhi assessed that this was because the sale of fuel and gas in Malaysia received subsidies from the government. Unlike the Indonesian government which provides subsidies for subsidized diesel fuel products and RON 90 or Pertalite gasoline, the Malaysian government provides subsidies for gasoline products with higher quality and octane values, namely RON 95, which in terms of octane quality is above Pertamax which has RON 92 .

Meanwhile, for the implementation of low fuel prices, according to Fahmi, this is possible but requires a very large cost.

"You can, but it requires very large funds that are charged by the state budget. In Malaysia, the total subsidy funds are not so large because the number of consumers is relatively small," concluded Fahmi.

For information, the Minister of Finance (Menkeu) Sri Mulyani revealed that the government currently still has outstanding debts of Rp.

He detailed, the total debt to Pertamina reached Rp. 68.5 trillion. This figure includes the remaining underpayment of subsidies for the 2020 period, which is Rp. 15.9 trillion.

"Here, the state budget takes all the pressure that comes from fluctuations in oil prices so that people don't experience the impact," he said during an online press conference on the realization of the 2022 state budget, quoted on Tuesday, March 29.