PETALING JAYA: The price of premium petrol RON 97 will be increased by 20 sen to RM2.90 per litre started 5 May 2011.
Malaysian Petrol Dealers Association president Datuk Hashim Othman, who confirmed this, said the price hike would be effective at midnight yesterday.
“The price of RON 97 currently fluctuates as the Government has lifted the subsidy for this petrol,” he said.
He added that the recent occurrences of global natural disasters and the political instability in the Middle East had caused an increase in crude oil prices.
Hashim said crude oil prices dipped slightly after the United States announced the death of terrorist Osama bin Laden.
“The price of RON 97 might go down in the future, but that depends on the political situation in the Middle East,” he said.
“Natural disasters will also affect the price.”
Hashim, however, added that the price of RON 95, which is subsidised, would stay at RM1.90 per litre.
Last month, Deputy Finance Minister Datuk Donald Lim Siang Chai told Parliament that the Government had spent RM23.1bil on oil subsidies in 2010 compared with RM33.2bil in 2008.
He added that the Government had only allowed an increase of RON 97 petrol prices and left RON 95 unchanged to ensure that the people were not economically burdened.
