30 percent of mamak restaurants have raised food prices despite zero GST

PUTRAJAYA (Bernama): 30 percent of mamak restaurants are still raising their food prices even though the Goods and Services Tax (GST) has been zero rated since June 1, says the Domestic Trade and Consumer Affairs Ministry.

Its minister Datuk Saifuddin Nasution Ismail said the percentage was obtained by comparing food prices at the premises before and after the implementation of the zero-rated GST.

"We found that the food prices at 30 percent of the mamak restaurants had been increased while another 70 percent had decreased.

"So we are now actively identifying restaurants that are still stubborn not to lower food prices," he told a press conference after attending the the ministry's monthly assembly here on Thursday (July 12).

Meanwhile, Saifuddin said the ministry was also drafting a zero food waste policy so that food from supermarkets is not thrown away but given to the poor.

He said such a policy had been implemented in developed countries such as the United States, France and Singapore. - Bernama