27/03/2011

MALAYSIA: fuel subsidies

Malaysia is one of the countries in South East Asia that provides subsidies to its fishermen.

The Start Online reported last year (13 July 2010) on the answer by Agriculture and Agro-Based Industry Minister Datuk Noh Omar to a question by MP Datuk Sapawi Ahmad. Mr Sapawi asked on amount of subsidies distributed to traditional fishermen and ministry efforts to curb overfishing by licensed trawler boats.

According to the newspaper article:
"The government distributed 4.66 billion litres of subsidised diesel and 314.55 million litres of petrol worth RM3bil to fishermen in the last four years. Some 6.075 tonnes of fish worth RM36.45bil were landed from 2006 to 2010. The subsidies help to meet fuel cost, which comprises 70% of their operating cost."
The equivalent of RM (Malaysia Ringgit) of 3 billion is, at today's exchange rate, USD 990 million. This means that a yearly fuel subsidy of USD 247,5 million was provided by the government to fishermen in that country.

Compared to the total value of landings (yearly average of RM 9.11 billion or USD 3 billion) the yearly fuel subsidy represented around 8% of the total value of the catch.

Here is the link to the article:


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