The International Monetary Fund is urging countries to slash provisions of energy subsidies totaling one-trillion-900 billion U.S. dollars a year to ease budgetary pressures.

In an energy subsidy reform report, the IMF said that removing or reducing subsidies is urgent, since they encourage excessive energy consumption and discourage the incentive for investment in other forms of cleaner energy.

Advanced economies account for 40 percent of energy subsidies

In the Middle East and Africa, the representation of energy subsidies in gross domestic production is eight-point-five times higher than in advanced countries.

The IMF said that poor people without cars or air conditioners don’t properly benefit from energy subsidies and it is better to directly give them money.