Salahuddin activates council to tackle cost of living issues

PUTRAJAYA: The Ministry of Domestic Trade and Cost of Living will immediately activate the National Action Council on Cost of Living (NACCOL) to find solutions to the cost of living issue plaguing the people.

Its minister, Datuk Seri Salahuddin Ayub, said he would immediately meet with the ministry’s secretary-general, Datuk Azman Mohd Yusof, to discuss the matter.

“(This meeting) is for me to present to the Prime Minister measures to resolve some of the issues presented during a meeting between the Chief Secretary to the Government and secretaries-general together with the Prime Minister on Nov 27.

“Business is not as usual,” Salahuddin said at his first media conference after the handing over of duties ceremony by former Domestic Trade and Consumer Affairs minister Datuk Seri Alexander Nanta Linggi.

At the Nov 27 meeting, Anwar instructed NACCOL to analyse and go through the subsidy implications within two weeks.

Meanwhile, Salahuddin said the move to change the name of the Ministry of Domestic Trade and Consumer Affairs (KPDNHEP) to the Ministry of Domestic Trade and Cost of Living clearly showed Prime Minister Anwar Ibrahim’s priority is to reduce the burden of the people’s cost of living.

He also committed to mobilising all existing expertise to meet the expectations of Malaysians who want a solution to the rise in the price of goods and shortage of food supplies in the market in line with the Prime Minister’s vision.

He said the ministry would forge strategic cooperation with other ministries, especially the Ministry of Agriculture and Food Security, responsible for food production to optimise production and minimise production costs. — Bernama