PUTRAJAYA: Malaysian consumers have a role to play in the fight against inflation – starting by choosing cheaper options of goods they purchase, says Rafizi Ramli.
The Economy Minister said Malaysians are partly responsible for the rise in food prices, for example, with analysis of inflation data showing that a major factor behind steeper prices was the “inelasticity of demand” – a situation where consumers continue buying the same amount of goods even as prices soar.
According to Rafizi, if consumers refrain from purchasing products at unreasonable prices, traders and suppliers would be pressured into not increasing prices arbitrarily.
“Despite the rise in prices for food and non-alcoholic beverages, people still continue to buy. This, to some extent, contributes to the increase in prices of food and non-alcoholic beverages,” said Rafizi.
“It’s not about boycotting – but you don’t have to buy it. We have many choices (of cheaper goods to choose from),” added Rafizi.
Meanwhile, he said a new data ecosystem to display the prices of goods would be developed soon.
“It has to be a platform used by many people. The government will provide the data, but it (the data ecosystem) must work for the public.
“Hopefully, we can start rolling it out … in a month’s time,” added Rafizi.
Malaysia’s consumer price index (CPI) rose 4% in November this year.
According to the Statistics Department, inflation for food rose 7.3% and remained the main contributor for inflation.
Restaurants and hotels went up 7% against October’s 6.8%.
A slower increase was recorded for the transport group at (5%) and furnishings, household equipment and routine household maintenance at 3.8%.
In November this year, all subgroups in food and non-alcoholic beverages recorded increases between 1.6% and 8.9%.
Chief Statistician Datuk Seri Dr Mohd Uzir Mahidin said four states recorded increases above the national inflation level of 4%.
The four were the Putrajaya Federal Territories (7.9%), Selangor (4.8%), Sarawak (4.7%), and Johor (4.2%).
All states recorded an increase in inflation of food and non-alcoholic beverages, with the highest recorded by Selangor (9%), followed by the Putrajaya Federal Territories (8.8%), Sarawak (8.5%), Johor (7.6%) and Sabah (7.4%).
Core inflation, which measures changes in prices of all goods and services without taking into account the volatile prices of fresh food, as well as administered prices of goods by the government, registered an increase of 4.2% in November this year, compared to the same month of the previous year.