Anwar said this is subject to an ongoing study to determine which specific income groups would be affected so that the initiative does not end up burdening the upper-middle income group.

Anwar, who is also the finance minister, said the matter is being studied by the National Economic Action Council’s (MTEN) crisis management task force led by corporate figure Hassan Marican.

“The proposal was tabled about a month ago by the task force headed by Hassan. They went through it and there was this discussion as to whether it should involve the T5 or T10 or T15 or T20.

“In principle, we agree … but we don’t want it to impact the upper-middle class. So, they are working on it, we will finalise it soon, I hope,” he told reporters on the sidelines of an event at Universiti Malaya here today.

Currently, RON95 petrol is subsidised at RM1.99 a litre for all Malaysians with a valid driving licence, capped at 200 litres a month.

In East Malaysia, subsidised diesel is sold at RM2.15 per litre, compared with RM5.17 a litre in Peninsular Malaysia.

There have been multiple calls recently for the government to exclude the rich from fuel subsidies in light of the ongoing global energy crisis.

Economist Ahmed Razman Abdul Latiff of Putra Business School said the savings from this measure could be channelled back as financial aid to those in need, helping those in the low and middle-income groups to manage the cost of living.

Razman also said this initiative could save Putrajaya up to RM1.5 billion a month. In April, Putrajaya spent around RM5 billion on fuel subsidies following the rise in crude oil prices resulting from the Iran war.

Yesterday, Umno Youth announced that it would table a motion at the next Umno Supreme Council meeting to propose excluding those in the T20 income group from fuel subsidies.