SUBANG JAYA: The Johor Indian Muslim Entrepreneurs Association will be summoned today on its proposal to raise food prices by five per cent starting next year, says the Domestic Trade and Cost of Living Minister.
Datuk Armizan Mohd Ali said the ministry had issued a notice to the association under Section 21 of the Price Control and Anti-Profiteering Act 2011, requiring an explanation for the proposed price increase.
“Since this association has only just made the announcement for next year, we are taking proactive steps to prevent anyone from taking advantage of the situation.
“This notice is to summon the association to provide an explanation for its announcement regarding the price increase,” he told reporters after the signing of an MOU on price data sharing between the ministry and supermarket chains Mydin and Redtick here yesterday, Bernama reported.
According to reports, about 300 mamak restaurant operators in Johor expressed concerns about rising operating costs, with the implementation of the minimum wage next year expected to further increase expenses.
Armizan cited an example from OPS Kesan 2.0, where the ministry had taken action against those attempting to take advantage of the implementation of targeted diesel subsidies and the sales and service tax (SST) hike.
“Some parties announced a price increase, but after being summoned and asked to explain, it was found that their reasons were unfounded.
“For instance, the construction sector claimed that the price increase was due to the implementation of the targeted diesel subsidies, even though it is not eligible to use subsidised diesel,” he said.
Armizan said the ministry had issued a notice and taken action under OPS Kesan 2.0 to ensure that price increases were only made based on relevant, actual costs.
The minister also said the PriceCatcher app will continue to be improved with data-sharing on prices through collaboration between the ministry and Mydin and Redtick.
He said this was an initiative that reflected transparency in transactions and business ethics to avoid price manipulation or profiteering at the expense of consumers.
“Previously, the price data displayed in the PriceCatcher app was entirely sourced from field price monitoring officers, which limited the coverage area and the number of premises uploaded to the app.
“The signing of this MOU marks a pioneering effort to improve the app by enabling automated data sharing from the involved supermarkets to be displayed in the ‘supermarket price sharing’ section,” he added.
