PUTRAJAYA: The Domestic Trade and Consumer Affairs Ministry is working to identify new and popular consumer items to be added in the controlled goods list, as part of an effort to tackle rising cost of living.
Deputy Prime Minister Datuk Seri Dr Wan Azizah Wan Ismail said the National Action Council on Cost of Living (NACCOL), which she chaired, has instructed the ministry to start work on the matter.
“The ministry has been tasked to study the possiblity of including several popular goods that can be included in the list,.
”In addition, the ministry has been asked to consider extending the price control scheme for the main festivals in Malaysia because NACCOL finds that the scheme has positive impact on consumers.
“The Agriculture and Agro-based Ministry also has to play its part to ensure we have enough food supply,” said the deputy prime minister in a statement read by Domestic Trade and Consumer Affairs Minister Datuk Seri Saifuddin Nasution.
During a question-and-answer session, Saifuddin said the council had given the ministry ample time to identify the items to be added into the list.
“It is easy to identify the popular items. But, we have to take into account the supply aspect of these favoured goods,” he said, adding that efforts to pinpoint the popular goods would be carried out as soon as possible.
Once the ministry has identified the items and ironed out the supply aspect, Saifuddin said, the ministry would then placed a deadline for the items to be included in the list.
The goods declared as controlled articles under the Control of Supplies Act 1961 available on the ministry’s website included sugar, milk including condensed milk; powdered or dried milk and evaporated milk; salt, cement and clinker; wheat flour; cooking oil; fertilisers and pesticides.
Other controlled items are formic acid or any other acid used for coagulating latex; mild steel round bars; kerosene; prepared or preserved fish in airtight containers; all types of rice (Sabah Only); padi (Sabah Only); petrol motor spirit and motor gasoline of all grades; diesel fuel, liquified petroleum gas (LPG); all types of bread; fuel oil; chicken; rubber wood and face mask (1-ply, 2-ply, N95)
In today’s NACCOL meeting, which lasted more than two hours, the council also decided to extend the food bank programme, under the supervision of the Domestic Trade and Consumer Affairs Ministry, to all higher learning institutions.
The Food Malaysia Foundation has been instructed to mobilise the programme to all the campus as soon as possible.
Other matters raised and deliberated in the council meeting included providing 20 per cent discount for Keretapi Tanah Melayu train fare and a star rating system for express buses.