Consumer prices must be reflective of actual prices of raw materials and input cost so as not to contribute to inflation and burden Malaysians. The people must also be aware of current consumer prices and to seek out fair pricing, especially on food items.
Minister of Economy Rafizi Ramli said as announced by the Department of Statistics Malaysia last week, the inflation rate in December 2022 eased to 3.8% compared to the corresponding month the previous year.
In 2022, Malaysia’s inflation rate was recorded at 3.3% as projected by the Ministry of Finance in its Economic Outlook 2023 Report.
A month-to-month comparison shows inflation for the month December 2022 recorded an increase of 0.2%, it is lower compared to 0.3% in November 2022.
All major components of the Consumer Price Index (CPI) moderated except that concerning price of out of home food prices or that sold at restaurants and hotels along with costs of water, electricity, gas and other fuel.
The increase in the price of food and drinks outside the home are the main contributors to the inflation rate, said Rafizi, adding, efforts to control inflation require the cooperation of all parties, from the government, traders, retailers to the people.
“Consumer prices, based on the reported trend analysis, are gradually reducing which means the inflation rate is normalising. All parties must play a role to control inflation, where the people must be watchful of rising prices. The Government plays its role to control prices of raw materials in managing ceiling prices in certain sectors in accordance with the Price Control Anti-Profiteering Act 2011 (PCAP). The people must know if they are subjected to high margins imposed by traders or retailers. High margins here mean the difference between the actual costs of raw materials and the ceiling price which the government reimburses the producers should a shortfall in supply be incurred,” he said a press conference today (Jan 25).
Rafizi explained that the government has paid RM2 Billion to ensure the supply of chicken and eggs recently and when government funds these producers in order to control prices and later the rate stabilises, the end prices have to come down as the case is presently as these costs are borne by the people, who in turn have lesser disposable income.
“What I am saying is when the prices fall, the consumer prices have to fall but is not a reality in the market today. It’s the responsibility of Economy Ministry to offer a system of checks and balances which denotes that when costs stabilise, the consumer prices has to encounter a similar decrease.
“We have to stop this mentality of saying one consumer prices go up, they do not come down.”
As mentioned before, the government would like to remind consumers early that they can play a role in injecting elasticity between demand and supply in order to control inflation.
The Department of Statistics Malaysia (DOSM) has launched OpenDOSM NextGen on January 12, 2023, which is a related data platform on official statistics published by DOSM and other government agencies.
This platform contains data on prices of 28 million items obtained from various locations across the country from the PriceCatcher app developed by Ministry of Domestic Trade and Limited Cost of Living (KPDN).
The prices captured through the PriceCatcher app are published at a one-day interval. The government expects the publication of this data to be able to help users make more accurate choices, and so to make demand more elastic while controlling price increases.
Various other efforts have also been implemented to control prices in all restaurants and food stalls across the country, however, there are challenges from the point of view of implementation of monitoring due to the capacity of enforcement KPDN officers.
Several Government agencies including the Ministry of Economy, KPDN, Ministry of Finance and Ministry of Agriculture and Food Security have collaborated to devise a new strategy as a quick win solution to the cost-of-living issue and will be announced in the near future.
Measures for the long term are also being examined to enable greater guarantees on food supply to meet demand and to help control price increases.
Earlier, Rafizi stated that the Ministry of Economy aims to achieve three broad objectives.
They include strengthening the nation’s fiscal position, increase national income and structuring the economy.
The basis for achieving this is the digitisation of processes, management services with the government up to people’s daily practices.
“Digitisation can help attract investment and increase economic activity in stages of innovation and high technology. Indirectly increase the salary level of the people.
Among the initiatives taken so far was the launch of the OpenDOSM NexGen platform (https://open.dosm.gov.my/) to fulfill these requirements as it can help consumers and businesses make informed decisions, Rafizi added.
