PUTRAJAYA has to do more to address the issue of cost of living, Saifuddin Nasution Ismail conceded as the public continues to grapple with prices of goods and services more than a year after Pakatan Harapan took power. 

Citing a report by the World Bank, the Domestic Trade and Consumer Affairs Minister said prices of goods, housing affordability and transport have become a bane to the lower income group.

“Malaysians allocate about 70% of their monthly expenditure for these three components,” he told reporters on the sidelines of the Malaysia Economic Monitor-Making Ends Meet forum.

He said the low-income group spends a bulk of their income on basic necessities such as food whereas the high-income strata spend most of their income on leisure.

“When there is an increase in prices of goods, the lower income group is affected the most,” he said, adding that stagnated income is another factor contributing to the problem.

Saifuddin said the government has to be seen as actively working towards addressing the issue of cost of living.

“We cannot be satisfied with the current stage. We have to do more than that,” he said.

As the secretariat of the National Cost of Living Action Council, his ministry will use some of the report’s findings as a guideline for the council’s direction forward in 2020. 

In his keynote address earlier, Saifuddin noted that the government’s previous measures to address cost of living issues have been on an ad hoc basis, fragmented and short term.

He also agreed there is a need for coordination between ministries and agencies to implement structural reforms and increase earnings of lower- and middle-income households.

One of PH’s selling points in the run up to the last general election was its promise to the public that it will help bring down the cost of living if it won power – a promise it has continued to grapple with over the last 18 months. – December 9, 2019.