Government allocates RM296m to standardise prices, says deputy minister: KUALA LUMPUR, Oct 8 — The government has allocated RM296 million to absorb the cost of transportation to rural areas in Sabah, Sarawak and Labuan in order to standardise the prices of goods. Deputy Domestic Trade, Cooperative and Consumerism Minister Datuk Ahmad Bashah Hanipah said RM60 million of the amount was for transport costs to Kedai Rakyat 1Malaysia (KR1M), Kedai Coop 1Malaysia and for the produce of Federal Agriculture Marketing Authority (Fama). He said this was the government’s effort to standardise the pricing of basic necessities, including subsidised goods nationwide this year. “With this standardisation, traders no longer have an excuse to hike prices indiscriminately as the government has absorbed the transport cost which was the main reason for increasing prices,” he said. He was responding to a supplementary question by senator Tan Sri Koh Tsu Koon, who had queried on the sum allocated to standardise the prices of goods and services in Sabah and Sarawak’s rural areas in comparison to Peninsula Malaysia’s urban areas. Ahmad Bashah said the price standardisation programme benefited an estimated 44.5 million rural folk, particularly in Sabah, Sarawak and Labuan as well as several areas in Peninsula Malaysia. “This programme has stabilised the supply of goods and retail pricing of controlled items at the prices set by the ministry,” he explained. Replying to Koh’s initial question, he said the government had taken a number of steps to standardise the prices of subsidised essential goods in Sabah, Sarawak and Labuan, the same as in Peninsula Malaysia. The government has been subsidising seven items, namely RON95 petrol, liquid petroleum gas, palm oil based cooking oil, rice, sugar and wheat, since 2009, he noted. — Bernama dlvr.it/45qmlZ
Posted on: Tue, 08 Oct 2013 06:10:54 +0000
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