No unusual price hikes following diesel subsidy rationalisation, Dewan Rakyat told

KUALA LUMPUR: There have been no unusual price increases detected following the diesel subsidy rationalisation on June 10, the Dewan Rakyat was told on Tuesday (July 16).

Deputy Domestic Trade and Cost of Living Minister Fuziah Salleh said that through Ops Kesan, the Enforcement Division conducted 14,195 inspections of premises to prevent profiteering.

"Additionally, the National Price of Goods Division monitors 418 types of daily necessities and has not observed any abnormal price fluctuations,” she said during the question-and-answer session.

She was responding to a question from Datuk Rosol Wahid (PN-Hulu Terengganu) about the impact of diesel subsidy rationalisation on the prices of goods and the cost of living.

To a supplementary question from Fong Kui Lun (PH-Bukit Bintang) on whether the government conducts daily or weekly inspections, Fuziah said the ministry deploys 2,200 enforcement officers and 900 price monitoring officers daily to monitor and collect stock-keeping unit (SKU) price data.

"Since May 2, nearly a month before the targeted subsidy was implemented, enforcement officers have been on the ground gathering information on prices, and to date, they have recorded 14,729 SKUs for us to make comparisons.

"Fluctuations are common in an open economy... what we are looking for are elements of profiteering and unreasonable price hikes,” she explained.

Fuziah added that out of the 14,195 premises inspected, 243 notices were issued requesting explanations for unreasonable price increases.

"This shows that we are taking action. We have summoned 17 companies to the ministry to explain why they raised prices without valid reasons, and we have also opened investigation papers,” she said. - Bernama