The ministry said that, on average, private users consumed only 98.2 litres of RON95 petrol up to Oct 26.

“Fewer than 0.7% of BUDI95 recipients had fully utilised their monthly quota,” the ministry said.

In the first month of BUDI95 from Sept 30 to Oct 31, just over 13 million Malaysians pumped 1.33 billion litres of subsidised fuel, spending a total of RM2.66 billion, the ministry said.

However, several irregular usage patterns have been detected, including recipients using up their full monthly quota in a short time and repeated purchases near border areas.

The ministry said the government will continue to strengthen monitoring at petrol stations to prevent the misuse of BUDI95. “The government will not tolerate any abuse or resale of subsidised petrol to ineligible parties,” the ministry said.

So far 16.55 million Malaysians have been eligible for subsidised RON95 petrol at RM1.99 per litre (it is RM2.60 without subsidy); the number of users surpasses the original projection of 15 million recipients.

Finance minister II Amir Hamzah Azizan said the programme ensures that Malaysians receive subsidy benefits directly, without complicated processes, while enabling the government to redirect savings toward development and public welfare.

Since Oct 13, the government has also increased the monthly quota for full-time e-hailing drivers from 300 to 600 litres, benefitting nearly 58,000 drivers nationwide.

The finance ministry noted that only 0.6% of private users and 0.3% of registered boat users without a driving licence had fully utilised their quotas for the month.