DPM: Gov’t serious in tackling rising cost of living

The setting up of the special cabinet committee to tackle rising of living shows that the government is concerned about the people's welfare, says Deputy Prime Minister Muhyiddin Yassin.

KUALA LUMPUR: Increased monitoring to determine the factors for price increase of goods is no gimmick, but it reflects the government’s seriousness in tackling rising the cost of living, says Muhyiddin Yassin.

The deputy prime minister said there would also be stricter enforcement so that not only prices of goods could be controlled but also to ensure that traders abide by the laws and regulations.

“This is not something factitious. When the cabinet and the prime minister appointed me to assist the Domestic Trade, Cooperatives and Consumerism Ministry, it showed our seriousness and that we were listening to the people’s voice. We could not keep quiet, but to immediately respond.

“It is not a gimmick. For as long as the situation does not improve, the special committee set up will look at all aspects,” he said after he “turun padang” (went to the ground) to survey the price of essential goods at four locations, here, today.

On Wednesday, Muhyiddin had announced the setting up the Special Cabinet Committee to Tackle Rising of Living, which is chaired by him.

Muhyiddin said the committee would do overall monitoring, covering various aspects related to price of goods like supply and demand and people’s income, besides the fiscal measures taken by the government, such as subsidy rationalisation.

He said so far, the government had not received complaints on supply shortage, particularly of agriculture and livestock products.

“As a responsible government, we do not wash off our hands (on the price hike issue). The trend today is that some people use the oil price increase, reduced sugar subsidy and minimum wage rule (as an excuse to raise prices of goods). To me, this is not right.”

Muhyiddin said the government would closely watch the tendency of traders to indiscriminately raise the price of goods to make excessive profits.

He stressed that each trader must therefore display price tags as required under the Price Control and Anti-Profiteering Act 2011, to facilitate monitoring by the relevant authority.

Muhyiddin also said that the government had a number of mechanisms for price control, including expanding the import permit to increase supply.

“It’s not a problem as we have an open market. This can help consumers get a bigger supply of goods. The basis is to flood our market with products, hence consumers will be able to buy them at cheaper or reasonable prices,” he added.

Muhyiddin also called on the people to be patient for the special committee to come out with its monitoring findings, expected to be completed before the end of this month.

-Bernama