PRIME Minister Ismail Sabri Yaakob will chair the cost of living action committee on Thursday, said Mustapa Mohamed.

“The committee will discuss steps to combat the issue of rising costs of living faced by Malaysians,” the Minister in the Prime Minister’s Department (Economy) told the Dewan Rakyat during the Minister-Question-Time session today.

The Jeli lawmaker was responding to a question by opposition leader Anwar Ibrahim (Port Dickson-Pakatan Harapan) on the government’s immediate measures to address the issue.

According to Mustapa, the inflation rate in 2019 was just 0.7% while the consumer price index shrunk to 1.2% in 2020 as a result of the Covid-19 pandemic and lower petrol prices.

“But starting this year, the world’s economy has started improving and the price of crude oil has also risen.

“As such, the inflation rate climbed to 4.7% in April and 4.4% in May. Following that, the inflation rate has dropped a little before going back to 2.9% in October,” said Mustapa.

He said the government is serious in tackling the high costs of food and has allocated RM262 million for farmers due to the escalating cost of fertilisers and insecticides.

The government, said Mustapa, has also approved the import of processed chicken as a temporary measure to overcome the shortage and mobilised enforcement officers to check on prices.

Mustapa’s answer, however, did not sit well with Anwar who questioned why the prime minister was only chairing the cost of living action committee meeting on Thursday after more than three weeks.

“This is negligence on the part of the government although we have allowed the importation of 200 containers of processed chickens.

“This, however, has not addressed the issue as prices are still very high,” said Anwar.

He said there appears to be huge disparities in prices as red chillies that cost RM16 per kg in Kulai is RM35 in Kuching.

The government, said Anwar, should have held its meetings earlier.

Responding to Anwar, Mustapa said the government is aware of the issues.

“The Ministry of Domestic Trade and Consumer Affairs chaired the meeting twice last year and has already met three times this year.

“We are also monitoring the price of 30 to 40 types of vegetables every day now, up from twice a month,” said Mustapa. – December 7, 2021.