At prevailing global oil prices, Malaysians are not only unsubsidised for RON95 but paying higher than market prices, Perak DAP said.

Its economic bureau chief Chong Zhemin said that this is as global petrol price was at US$84.47 (RM277) yesterday.

Citing AmResearch analysis, he said, RON95 prices should be RM2.30 per litre without government subsidy if global oil price is US$84.80 (RM278).

Now that it is US$0.53 (RM1.74) per barrel lower than that, he said, "Malaysians are now effectively paying fuel tax for RM95".

Chong added that AmResearch had estimated that global oil prices will drop 10 percent, shrinking the the government's subsidy bill by whopping RM35.6 billion.

"With global oil plummeted more than 11 percent, Putrajaya must be transparent on how will the RM35.6 billion fuel subsidy savings be spent," he said.

Cut petrol prices now

As such, he urged the government to reduce the price of RON95 and diesel with immediate effect.

He also urged the government to pass on the subsidy savings to the road users who are already paying a sizeable sum in transport-related taxes.

According to the 2015 Budget, the government will collect a total RM17.3 billion in transport-related taxes through excise duty, car sales tax, import duty and vehicle licenses.

The government earlier this month slashed RON95 and diesel subsidies by 20 sen, bringing pump prices up to RM2.30 and RM2.10 respectively.

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