Malaysia to scrap nearly all subsidies for cooking oil

Kuala Lumpur

MALAYSIA will scrap the government subsidy for bottled cooking oil in a move to consolidate its finances and to deter people from smuggling it out of the country, where it is sold at higher prices for profit.

Domestic trade minister Hamzah Zainuddin confirmed that only the 1 kg polybags of oil - priced at RM2.50 (S$0.83) and favoured by poor families - will continue to be subsidised; the subsidy on other sizes of packaging will be removed in stages from Nov 1.