KUCHING, Feb 27: Pointing out that some coffee shops sell a small glass of hot water at RM1.00, Parti Bumi Kenyalang (PBK) calls on the government to strictly enforce Price Control and Anti-Profiteering Act 2011 to manage prices of goods and services.
According to PBK president Voon Lee Shan, some coffee shops charged a small glass of hot water as much as RM1.00 while a serving of ‘kolo mee’ has increased by RM0.80 sen before Chinese New Year.
He questioned the justification of the hike and pointed out that the usual trend is “when prices go up, they never go down”.
Quoting a local daily, he said it was reported that Sarawak had experience an increase of inflation at 4.3 per cent in January 2023.
“This was higher than the national average of 3.7 per cent,” he said.
Despite the unjustifiable hike in food and beverage, he said enforcement officers are rarely seen conducting routine checks on prices of goods while at the same time, there is also lack of publicity by the relevant government agencies in Sarawak of actions taken by them to control prices of goods.
“Ministers should also do their own inspection at wet markets, coffee shops and food outlets to find out for themselves the grouses of petty traders, hawkers and stallholders so that they could find solutions to help them to overcome the difficulties of their business in hope that they can reduce the prices of things they sell,” he said in a statement today.
Voon said prices of food and drinks have risen following the breaking out of the Ukraine war on Feb 24, 2022, and the sharp increase of prices of goods was felt during Chinese New Year. – DayakDaily.
