THE National Action Council on Cost of Living (Naccol) has proposed that the price control policy and chicken subsidies be continued until the policy relating to the targeted mechanism is finalised.

Deputy Prime Minister Ahmad Zahid Hamidi, in a statement issued after chairing the meeting today, said another recommendation put forward was to review the two-tier pricing mechanism, which involved only 1.6% of the total production of crude palm oil for bottled packaging and 8.4% for palm oil packets.

He said the Plantation Industries and Commodities Ministry must initiate cross-agency coordination to scrutinise the implementation mechanism for the two-tier pricing system so that any decision does not have major implications on the parties at the industry or consumer levels.

Naccol also recommended using policy and legislation on competition to address the issue of living cost, to ensure a healthy and fair market and industry as well as to protect the interests of consumers from the threat of cartels and monopolies, he said.

“This includes the strengthening of MyCC (Malaysian Competition Commission) through amendments to the Competition Act 2010 in parliament, which should be expedited middle of this year,” he said.

Zahid said it also proposed that the Federal Agricultural Marketing Authority (Fama) increase direct-from-farm sales.

“A total of 10,000 sales are expected at 1,793 outlets throughout the country. The price that will be offered is also expected to be lower than the market price,” he said.

The council also proposed that Fama be upgraded to a Food Safety and Security Agency to ensure the production and distribution of selected major foods for the country are done consistently, efficiently and sufficiently.

Zahid said data from relevant agencies such as the Statistics Department should be used to identify market segments for better sales. – Bernama, January 9, 2023.