SHOPKEEPERS say business is down while shoppers say they are paying more for provisions, six months after Pakatan Harapan took power.

At the Section 17 market in Petaling Jaya, Selangor, stall owners say their profits have taken a dip due to a drop in purchasing power.

While the sales and services tax (SST) that came into effect on September 1 mostly did not affect fresh produce, Pasar Sentosa chairman Low Chun Foo said traders’ profits had slid.

“Sales profits decreased by 35% after July. Consumers are now more thrifty. They only shop when they need to, unlike before when they shopped on a weekly basis,” he told The Malaysian Insight. 

“Now we cannot expect to sell out everything in a day.”

Some greengrocers were selling just 3kg of vegetables daily, far less than what they used to sell, he said.

Fruit seller Ho See Siong, 50, said revenue had dropped by half since May, when the 14th general election took place.

“Previously, I could sell everything that was displayed at the stall but now I can only sell half the amount. 

“It’s easier to sell fruits because people want quality fruits at affordable prices. 

“But not everyone sells fruit. What about those who sell fish and beef? They have it harder because those items are seasonal so the prices will increase,” she said. 

‘There is nothing we can do about it’

In Datuk Keramat, Kuala Lumpur, sundry shopkeeper Mohd Akmal Hakim said his customers complained about the prices and even the regular ones no longer shopped as frequently.

“There is nothing we can do about it (higher prices). We have tried explaining to them but they don’t understand,” said Hakim, who has run the family business for six years. 

For example, he said, a tub of locally-made ice cream subject to 5% sales tax now sold at RM10.50 with SST. Under GST, the price was RM9.90. 

He said monthly sales had decreased by almost 30%, according to his mother who keeps the accounts.

Generally, the shopkeepers and stall owners could not explain the price hikes. They said there were given a list of items subject to the SST and they had to follow it.

PH came to power on the promise it would abolish the multi-tiered, broad-based GST and replace it with the SST, a narrower, single-stage tax.

However, it remains a point of contention whether the change had resulted in lower living costs. 

Finance Minister Lim Guan Eng has said it was never promised that SST would result in cheaper goods, and that prices were determined by factors such as supply and demand and the exchange rate.

Targeted help is on the way

In Budget 2019 tabled on November 2, the new government proposed its version of targeted cash aid, Bantuan Sara Hidup, to assist the B40 income group. 

Lim said financial aid of RM5 billion was allocated to approximately 4.1 million households, which, depending on their household income, would receive RM1,000, RM750 or RM500.

The PH government also aims to help the B40 group with a special insurance scheme, petrol subsidy and higher minimum wage.

But the effects of these broader measures will take time t, and until then, consumers in outlying areas like Sungai Kandis, near Shah Alam, are complaining that their expenses have increased over the months.

For semi-rural folk like Amdan Habib, 56, a RM50 increase to the monthly expenses of RM400 for basic items was keenly felt.

“Among the things my wife often complains about is the price of onions, which keeps increasing. Although it’s not drastic, it does affect our household expenditure because it is a basic food item,” he said. 

Normadiah Muhammad, 35, who runs a Kelantanese restaurant with her husband, said their monthly budget of RM1,200 did not stretch as far these days.

“Now for the same amount we get fewer things. Before, we spent RM1,200 monthly but now we have to raise the budget to RM1,500,” she said. 

The mother of four said the price increase was most noticeable for cooking oil, which was subject to 5% sales tax.

“We use it every day so we notice the increase. It has affected our expenditure.”

Sungai Kandis resident Muhammad Amin, 34, has accepted price increases as part and parcel of life. Prices rarely went down, he said.

“Household expenses have gone up but what can we do? There has always been price hikes.” – November 10, 2018.