Cost of Living Index to complement CPI

Protecting the economy: A file picture shows a woman shopping at a supermarket in Jakarta. Indonesia and the Philippines both hiked rates by a total of 175 basis points last year to shield the economy against the emerging market rout.

PUTRAJAYA: The government is currently designing a Cost of Living Index to complement the existing Consumer Price Index (CPI), said Finance Minister Lim Guan Eng.

Unlike the CPI, which tracks the general change in consumer prices, the new index would  determine the minimum living cost required for a person to live comfortably, he said.

"It will help the government design a more precise policy in addressing living costs faced by Malaysians," he said at 2020 Budget Consultation meeting, here today.

Lim said the government was actively managing living cost pressures faced by the people, adding that the inflation rates for March, April and May 2019 were low and stable at 0.2 per cent.

Lim also said that the government was currently evaluating and formulating a new plan to get half a million young Malaysians to work through multiple programmes.

"This is an important initiative since the youth unemployment rate has risen to 10.9 per cent in 2018, from 9.9 per cent in 2011. These rates are considerably higher than the 3.4 per cent national unemployment rate," he said. - Bernama