Cost of living action council to meet end of this month

KUALA LUMPUR: The National Cost of Living Action Council will be having its first meeting at the end of this month, says Domestic Trade and Consumer Affairs Minister Datuk Saifuddin Nasution Ismail.

He said the meeting to be chaired by Deputy Prime Minister Datuk Seri Dr Wan Azizah Wan Ismail is scheduled to discuss six clusters which contributed to the people’s rising cost of living namely food, housing, utilities, health, education and transport.

“These areas are the main contributors to the cost of living,” he said when winding the debate on the motion of thanks for the royal address for his ministry at Dewan Negara yesterday.

He said an action plan would be formulated from this meeting and if it was related with a certain cluster, the related ministry would be responsible to take further action.

On the development during Ops Catut 5.0 which was held with the implementation of the Sales and Service Tax ( SST) from Sept 1, Saifuddin Nasution said 3,084 business premises had been inspected involving 83,000 goods checked.

In the three-day operation conducted from Saturday, he said 434 business premises were given notices under section 21 of the Price Control and AntiProfiteering Act 2011 for significant price hike.

The Senate will seat again today. — Bernama