Cabinet to meet tomorrow on cost of living, food supply

The weekly cabinet meeting will be brought forward to tomorrow (May 23) to discuss cost of living and food supply issues, said Prime Minister Ismail Sabri Yaakob.

He said the Domestic Trade and Consumer Affairs Ministry and Agriculture and Food Industries Ministry will brief the cabinet on these issues, including short- and long-term plans to overcome these problems.

“So, on Monday I'm calling a cabinet meeting to specifically look into how we can balance this sudden increase in food prices; I've asked the Domestic Trade and Consumer Affairs Ministry to present (a report).

“The same for food (issue); the Agriculture and Food Industries Ministry needs to report on the supply of food including chicken," he told a press conference after opening the Symposium on Internationalisation of Bahasa Melayu at Dewan Bahasa dan Pustaka (DBP) today.

Ismail Sabri said the anticipated increase in the cost of living is a global phenomenon due to, among others, the Russia-Ukraine conflict and Covid-19 pandemic which have affected food production and supply.

Apart from the approved permit (AP) for food imports, the government is also studying the possibility of abolishing other types of AP to ease the pressure arising from shortages of other goods, he added.

“We hope that by abolishing APs we can at least reduce the pressure faced in terms of supply of goods, and maybe many quarters concerned can reduce prices. But we need to wait to see its effects.”

On Wednesday, the government decided to abolish the AP for food imports with immediate effect.

- Bernama