MALAYSIAN Indian Voice (MIV) has urged the Government to do more to intervene in the current hike in prices of the essential goods.
According to its founder Pappa Raidu Veraman, the increase in the price of essential goods such as chicken, fish and vegetables has a huge negative impact on the lives of the people not only from the low-income group but also those who have lost their jobs due to the COVID-19 pandemic and have many mouths to feed.
“Many economic experts argued that the current economic situation is the result of the pandemic which had [aggravated the issue] once more,” he added.
“Meanwhile, some people had opined that the constant flip-flopping and irrelevant movement control orders (MCOs) are to be blamed for the increase in the price of essential goods as well.
“Therefore, the Government need to come to terms with the inefficiency [of certain ministries and departments] and intervene to address this issue so that the rakyat can live more comfortably.”
On Saturday (Dec 11) English news daily The Star reported that the Government is taking various steps to combat the rising prices of goods.
This comes in the form of extra assistance for those who grow padi, fruits and vegetables through the injection of another RM62 mil for various subsidies and incentives to padi farmers, which is on top of the RM1.5 bil already allocated for them under Budget 2022.
Meanwhile, for those involved in producing fruits and vegetables, RM200 mil in interest-free loans has been earmarked for them, with these farmers further getting a six-month moratorium on the repayment of their loans to Agrobank and the Government’s micro-credit agency Tekun Nasional.
The Government has also vowed to combat the rising prices of essential goods by boosting the supply of chicken and fish, which will involve importing 200 to 300 container loads of frozen chicken.
“We will flood the local market with cheaper imported chicken so that consumers have more choices,” Prime Minister Datuk Seri Ismail Sabri Yaakob was quoted as saying by The Star.
Frozen fish stock under the Q’Fish programme of the National Fishermen’s Association (Nekmat) will also be released into the local market as an immediate measure to stabilise prices.
To complement the increase of supplies into the domestic market, outflow of some essential goods will be restricted.
Thus, Malaysia’s fish export will be suspended temporarily to ensure that more stock is easily available at reasonable prices locally.
While the main methods chosen to control prices are to increase supply by assisting farmers, raising imports and limiting exports, a third method is being undertaken by the Government, and this is to intervene in the retail market through direct Keluarga Malaysia sale of essential goods to the people, and by closely monitoring prices.
The Keluarga Malaysia sale will offer essential goods at a 20%-50% discount, thus enabling consumers to obtain food supplies far more cheaply than current market prices. This sale will be held in every state twice a month (for three months) starting from Dec 4.
On top of these initiatives, the Government has mobilised officers to monitor daily the prices of goods in 1,500 premises nationwide. – Dec 15, 2021
