"Don`t let it exceed the quota. We don`t want our fiscal to collapse," he said following a coordination meeting at the Coordinating Ministry for Economic Affairs here on Monday.
Although it was not easy to maintain the subsidized fuel quota of 38.6 million kiloliters for 2011, the government would do its utmost to prevent consumption from exceeding the quota, he said.
"Consumption in the first quarter of 2011 reached 30 percent. If we don`t control the consumption it will exceed the quota. So we must discipline ourselves to safeguard the quota. Next week we will discuss the matter," he said.
The government was unlikely to increase the quota of subsidized fuels amidst concern that the additional subsidy would be abused, he said.
"If we use usual ways, subsidized fuel consumption will surge. Therefore, we need an effort to control it," he said.
The minister said he had received a report that subsidized fuels had been smuggled out of the country. "This has become the center of our attention. We have caught a number of suspected sumgglers," he said.
He said the government was still undecided about raising the prices of subsidized fuels although many motorists had switched from non-subsidized pertamax to subsidized premium gasoline.
The Finance Ministry said earlier fuel oil subsidy in the first four months of 2011 jumped more than 100 percent compared with the same period last year.
"Fuel subsidy in the year ended April 30, 2011 reached Rp29.2 trillion or 30.4 percent of the ceiling of (Rp95.9 trillion) in the 2011 state budget," acting chief of the Fiscal Policy Board at the Finance Ministry Bambang Brodjonegoro said.
In the first four months of 2010 fuel subsidy reached Rp10.9 trillion or 12.2 percent of the ceiling of Rp88.9 trillion in the 2010 state budget.
(Uu.S012/H-NG/F001)
Editor: Priyambodo RH
Copyright © ANTARA 2011
