THE Payung Rahmah initiative carried out by the Domestic Trade and Cost of Living Ministry has proven to be successful in stabilising inflation and keeping it at a low level.

Its minister Salahuddin Ayub said the easing inflation trend for food away from home was also contributed by the introduction of Menu Rahmah on January 31.

“The easing inflation in May was mainly contributed by the fall in the Food and Non-alcoholic Beverages Index, which dropped to 5.9% from 6.3% in April.

“Food at home moderating further to 4.3% in May compared to 5% in April, while food away from home inflation declined to 8.1% in May this year compared to 9.6% in November 2022,” he said in a statement today.

To date, there are 2,922 Menu Rahmah operators throughout the country and 290 Menu Siswa Rahmah (formerly known as Kafe Rahmah) operators in public universities and polytechnics.

Meanwhile, Salahuddin said the Rahmah Sales programme, which offers discounts of up to 30% on food and basic items, is being actively carried out at 222 parliamentary constituencies nationwide, with 3,557 locations selected as of June 30.

He said the emphasis was on the implementation of mobile Rahmah Sales with the hashtag #KedaiCariRakyat to ensure that the benefits of the programme could be enjoyed by more people from the low-income group.

“KPDN’s Rahmah Sale programme is also supported by the AgroMadani Sales by the Agriculture and Food Security Ministry, which brings agricultural products directly from the farm at cheaper prices. To date, a total of 620 AgroMadani Sales programmes have been implemented including at 52 government sites throughout the country,” he said.

In order to curb uncontrolled increase in the price of goods, Salahuddin said the unity government is following through with the policy of controlling prices either with or without subsidies for items such as bottled and packet cooking oil, coarse and refined white sugar, chicken, grade A, B and C eggs, local white rice, liquefied petroleum gas, RON95 petrol and diesel.

He said continuous monitoring and enforcement was also carried out by ministry to ensure sufficient supply and to avoid leakage.

“As of June 2023, a total of 440,327 inspections have been carried out and a total of 854 cases have been recorded, involving RM11.8 million worth items seized. In addition, the ministry also monitors the prices of 480 items, with 186 items being monitored on a daily basis,” he said.

Salahuddin said the results of the monitoring showed that the prices of most items or goods were stable for the last four months, including 61 imported goods with 82% of them (50 items) with stable prices.

He said out of that number, 28 items recorded a decrease in prices, including turkey, bone-in mutton (Australia), carrots, onions (Pakistan), red onions (India and Myanmar) and russet potatoes.

“The ministry is committed to ensuring that all Malaysia Madani citizens are protected and not burdened with the increased cost of living in today’s challenging and uncertain times,” he added. – Bernama, July 11, 2023.