Indonesia to stop oil subsidies for private vehicles next year

The Indonesian government plans to implement a subsidized fuel restriction policy next year, which bans private vehicles from consuming subsidized fuel, local media quoted a minister as saying on Tuesday. The new policy was being introduced first in January or April in two main islands of Java and Bali in which more than half of the such fuel consumption was there, Energy and Mineral Resources Minister Darwin Zahedy Saleh said. "We noticed we should prioritize (restrictions) in Java and Bali islands first, because these two islands consume the most subsidized fuel, accounting for 59 percent of national consumption, or 24 million kilo of subsidized fuel, 53 percent of which is used for private vehicles," Darwin was quoted by the Jakarta Post as saying. "With this policy we could save up to 37.8 million kilo of subsidized fuel," he said.