LITTLE TO DO ABOUT PRICE HIKES
Netizens also trained their ire on politicians’ handling of the situation. For example, Prime Minister Ismail Sabri made several Facebook posts addressing inflation, only to be countered with criticisms of his government.
According to shop owners as well as the authorities, the root causes for the price hike were external factors such as the increase in prices for imported fertilisers, petrol, and environmental factors like constant bad weather.
Such factors affected the prices of vegetables and poultries, many of which are domestically produced (Figure 4). Hence, controlling prices is not a straightforward issue. The prices of domestically produced goods rose because the prices of their imported inputs had become costlier (and are not easily controllable by the government).
Meanwhile, Malaysia had in 2020 imported around RM55.5 billion (US$13.3 billion) of food like chilli and mutton as well as commodities like cooking oil. These products experienced a price hike from overseas producers and hence limits much of the KPDNHEP’s ability to control their prices effectively.
In the interim, the government has come up with several short-term solutions to tackle the price hike such as importing 200 container loads of chicken and stopping fish exports. Such a solution aims to temporarily increase the supply of food to reduce scarcity, therefore helping to establish some control over the prices.
Source: Channel News Asia
