A NEW entrepreneurial programme to empower B40 housewives is in the offing with the aim to help them improve their livelihood, Salahuddin Ayub said.

The domestic trade and cost of living minister said the programme – “Rezeki Suri” – will allow B40 housewives to sell 11 basic necessities directly from suppliers.

This would reduce the need for middlemen and enable the B40 segment to purchase basic essentials at a lower price, he said at an event in Johor Baru today.

He added that under the programme, these housewives will sell 11 basic commodities such as flour, rice, sugar, milk, cooking oil, eggs, biscuits and other items.

“We will conduct a pilot programme in each state first. We will start with a few selected areas and supervise them. 

“If these are well-received, the ministry will expand the programme to other locations,” he said.

The programme is expected to start within 100 days of his appointment as minister.

“God willing, ‘Rezeki Suri’ will be a new product of ministry and it will enable housewives to boost their livelihood and allow the B40 to access basic necessities at a cheaper price,” he said. 

On another matter, Salahuddin also said all available databases will be integrated to identify those eligible for targeted petrol subsidies.

He said the comprehensive database to be used would consist of data from not only the Road Transport Department (RTD) but also the Inland Revenue Board, Bank Negara Malaysia, Khazanah Nasional Bhd, the Statistics Department and university studies.

He said having a comprehensive data centre was important and necessary to make the targeted subsidy mechanism a success.

“We need to gather all the data. The ministry or the National Action Council on Cost of Living should look at all the data before we make a final decision,” he said.

Salahuddin said this when asked to comment on economists’ views that granting targeted petrol subsidies based on the cubic capacity of vehicle engines was not very appropriate.

It was recently reported that the RTD database can be used for the RON95 petrol subsidy scheme, as the government can identify those eligible based on the engine capacity of vehicles. – December 28, 2022.