KUALA LUMPUR: The government is ready to buy chicken and egg stocks from Thailand to prevent any increase of prices in the two food items should there be insufficient supply in the country.
Prime Minister Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim said he acknowledged there were concerns about the local supply of the two items which could experience a price hike and affect consumers.
"The approach that the government takes is to see if the current market prices are lower than the ceiling price, which is what is happening now; (and) when the market price is even lower in places such as Thailand, then that is when we float the prices.
"However, the Agriculture and Food Security Ministry has ensured it has 30 per cent of the chicken and egg supply. If there is indeed a shortage, the government will add to the stocks and we are ready to buy from Thailand to prevent the prices from rising.
"This is the assurance that we can provide and we are doing this now because the supply is abundant now and because of the low market prices," he said during the Prime Minister's Question time in Dewan Rakyat, today.
Anwar said this in response to Datuk Rosol Wahid (PN-Hulu Terengganu) on the government's guarantee that the move to float the price of chicken and eggs will not burden the people who are already dealing with the high cost of living.
Meanwhile, he said the government would also ensure stricter enforcement is imposed towards traders who take advantage of ceiling prices for chicken and eggs in the country.
Anwar said since 2022, the government has spent about RM3.7 billion to subsidise chicken and eggs to help the people , including 3.7 million foreigners in the country.
"The government subsidisation for chicken and eggs since 2022 has reached RM3.7 billion, but the current approach benefits 3.5 million foreigners.
"The subsidy policy is also not about being anti-super rich or imposing additional taxes on them. However, they should not receive subsidies if they earn more than RM100,000 a month.
"Hence, there is no reason why we cannot delay it if some traders try to take advantage of and raise prices. So aside from ensuring that the country has adequate supply (of the items), enforcement will also be tightened."