KUALA LUMPUR: Prime Minister Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim has uploaded a video explaining why his promise to reduce petrol prices, as he mentioned 15 years ago, cannot be fulfilled.
Through a post on his Facebook page, Anwar, who is also Finance Minister, acknowledged that he is aware that many people are quoting old statements regarding his promise to lower petrol prices and demanding for it to be fulfilled now.
"Like the current oil prices; I've been criticised everywhere, '(if) today I win, tomorrow oil prices will drop.' Listen to my answer," he said in a recorded video of his speech at a Madani Ramah Mesra gathering.
He explained that when he made the promise 15 years ago, the price of oil in Saudi Arabia, the world's largest oil producer, was only 50 cents per litre, compared to Malaysia's RM1.60 to RM1.80 per litre.
"I said then, why can Saudi Arabia have it at 50 cents, yet ours is still so high? We should also lower it. But what about now, in 2023?" he questioned.
"That's because now, petrol in Saudi Arabia is even more expensive than in Malaysia!
"How much else do you expect it to drop? We have already provided subsidies, high subsidies, RM30 to 40 billion in subsidies currently," said the prime minister.
In justifying the price difference, Anwar added that Saudi Arabia is used as a comparison because the country is a leading oil producer and has an output multiple times more than Malaysia. Yet, its prices are still higher.
Earlier this month in the Dewan Rakyat, Anwar explained that petrol prices could not be lowered to RM1.50 per litre due to developments involving the current world crude oil prices.
However, the prime minister then stated that the current petrol prices in Malaysia are still low, at RM2.05 per litre, compared to Saudi Arabia's RM2.84 per litre.
Therefore, as the Finance Minister, he characterised it as inappropriate if the proposal he made in 2008 continues to be manipulated without taking into account current developments.
