KUALA LUMPUR: The government will continue monitoring prices of goods, especially food items, to ensure that the cost of living does not increase following the expansion of the Sales and Service Tax (SST) which comes into force this month, said Deputy Finance Minister Lim Hui Ying.
She noted that food inflation averaged at 2.1 per cent in June and 2.4 per cent for the January-June 2025 period, higher than the national inflation rate of 1.1 per cent.
“When we implemented the SST expansion, we were already prepared for the impact on food or the rise in the cost of living, but the Ministry of Domestic Trade and Cost of Living will continue to do on-site monitoring of the prices.
“This is because our target for the SST expansion is not to raise prices of goods, especially essential food items, so we promise to monitor (the prices) from time to time to ensure that the cost of living is maintained, especially the prices of essential food items,” she said during the question and answer session in the Dewan Rakyat today.
She said this in reply to a supplementary question from Datuk Seri Hamzah Zainuddin (PN-Larut) who asked about the government’s efforts to reduce the food inflation rate, including the SST expansion’s impact on food price controls. - Bernama
