KULIM, Oct 12  -- The government will gather the necessary data to determine the number of people in the M40 group eligible for the targeted Petrol Subsidy Programme (PSP) as announced in the 2020 Budget yesterday.

Domestic Trade and Consumer Affairs Minister Datuk Seri Saifuddin Nasution Ismail said his ministry would discuss with the Finance Ministry and relevant agencies like the Road Transport Department (JPJ) to work out a mechanism to identify those eligible.

"This is unlike the B40 group for whom we already have data on those eligible for PSP, which, as I announced last Monday, is around 2.9 million drivers based on Bantuan Sara Hidup (BSH) and JPJ records.

"But for the M40 group we don’t have data yet on those eligible; we will get the details and set up a database,” he told reporters after attending Tesco’s Deepavali contribution programme here today.

He said this when asked on the mechanism for giving the Kad95 under PSP to non-BSH recipients, who will be entitled to a petrol subsidy of 30 sen per litre up to 100 litres per month for cars and 40 litres per month for motorcycles.

Saifuddin Nasution said Finance Minister Lim Guan Eng said in his budget speech that the government has allocated RM2.2 billion for the PSP scheme, which is targeted to benefit about eight million vehicle owners.

He said by deducting 2.9 million people in the B40 group from this figure, it would mean another estimated five million people would be eligible, including from the M40 group.

"That is our estimate but we will work out the details to ensure they are eligible based on the criteria set,” he said.

Lim said the PSP, which will be implemented in peninsular Malaysia in January next year, is to fulfil a promise made by the Pakatan Harapan government.

It has two categories, with the first being eligible BSH (B40) recipients who will be given RM30 petrol subsidy per month for cars and RM12 per month for motorcycles, with the money to be deposited into their accounts every four months.

The Kad95 is for the second category of recipients under the PSP.

-- BERNAMA