BREAD, instant noodles and sausages.

These are among the 30 most commonly bought items by working-class Malaysians that the government is looking to include in its list of items whose prices are controlled year-round.

Expanding the list, which already includes rice, cooking oil and sugar, said Domestic Trade and Consumer Affairs Minister Saifuddin Nasution Ismail is part of Putrajaya’s effort to ease cost-of-living pressures among lower-income Malaysians.

Not all 30 items will make the controlled price list as the government wants to choose the most popular so as to limit disrupting the market, he said.

Another initiative is to reduce or halt temporarily exports of food, such as vegetables and poultry, when supplies are low, Saifuddin said.

Low supplies domestically are one of the reasons behind price increases.

These are the newest measures the government is exploring to aid working-class Malaysians as it takes heat for not doing enough to bring down living costs – a key promise made by Pakatan Harapan in the 14th general election.

Such criticism, especially from rural Malays, is one reason for its recent defeat in the Cameron Highlands by-election and is a source of greater dissatisfaction among Malay Muslims in general towards the PH government.

“The government’s strategy to tackle cost of living is by looking at both incomes and cost of goods and services, and this affects whether the public can afford to purchase food and household items. The solutions are both long and short term,” Saifuddin told The Malaysian Insight at his Putrajaya office recently.

Price controls on common foods and household items and measures on domestic trade are among the short-term solutions that fall under his ministry, he said.

At the same time, his office is working with other ministries, such as finance, human resources and economic affairs, on long-term solutions, which are to increase wages and social protections and reduce the dependence on foreign workers Saifuddin said.

“These long-term measures are part of our structural reform agenda and will take time,” said Saifuddin, while admitting that the government is constrained by having to pay large debts left over from the previous Barisan Nasional administration.

“But even with our constraints, we will still manage to give out aid such as for cost of living for the B40, for fishermen during the monsoon season, fertiliser subsidies for farmers and for school supplies.”  

Top of the top 30

Saifuddin said the ministry is currently compiling data from the country’s largest supermarket and hypermarket chains, such as Tesco, Giant, Mydin and NSK, on customers’ shopping habits.

He said only the most popular of the 30 items will make it into the controlled-price list but declined to put an exact number as the ministry is still completing its studies.

“There are about 4,000 items in their inventories and we are looking at the 30 most common ones. Most shoppers will buy many of these 30. These items don’t change. They are like instant noodles, sausages, eggs, cooking oil, bread, nappies, soy sauce, chicken and some varieties of fish.”

Malaysia already had a policy of halting exports of fish popular with the public, such as kembong, mabong and selar when local supplies are low, he said.

The ministry is looking to expand the practice to other fresh produce, such as vegetables, when their prices increase due to high demand and low supplies.

This was something Consumers’ Association of Penang advocated as vegetable harvests dropped during the rainy season causing their prices to shoot up due to low domestic supplies.

The government is still identifying which food crops that could be part of such a no-export list, he said, adding that the ministry must also look into foreign treaties signed with other nations.

“Whenever we decide to halt exports, we must inform the destination country 90 days in advance. So this is something we must really study before we implement.” – February 25, 2019.