We have seen in the past how selling price in restaurants and at the pasar tani rise with rising diesel price
If you drive into Southern Thailand from Malaysia, you will notice that the selling price of diesel and also petrol in Thailand is much higher. This is because the Thai government made the SMART ECONOMIC move years ago (started gradually in August 2008, some 16 years ago) to remove fuel subsidies.
This move was met with huge restrictions initially and today we see how far forward Thailand has gone when compared to Malaysia (high subsidies in place only to protect voter interest only). Yes, the Thai Baht is stronger than the Malaysian Ringgit and when you visit South Thailand or any part of Thailand you will notice that without fuel subsidies, the cost of ‘stall food’ and drinks is lower than what you pay anywhere in Malaysia.
When you visit a restaurant in a shopping mall in Bangkok, the prices of food and drinks are the same or sometimes even lower than what you pay in Malaysia.
So, why is this so?
Well, ‘some’ restaurant and stall owners in Malaysia take advantage of rising fuel to raise prices. Many logistic companies and delivery businesses who move food and drinks take advantage and raise prices.
Others just providing less quantity for the same selling price (earning more profits). Then there are the countless middlemen in our business industry who profit from earning a lot of money between the farmer/fisherman/raw material provider to the end consumer.
The government MUST start removing the middlemen in our food and beverage industry to keep costs low and control inflation.
Meanwhile will OPS KESAN 2.0 make sure that prices are kept as is or not?
This is the biggest problem in Malaysia, the middleman!
We have seen middlemen in nearly every industry, including the car industry. These are greedy individuals who use their political might to make ‘insane’ amounts of money from the hard working many Malaysians and its time they are removed to keep costs down.
Our Prime Minister and his team should remove asap the country’s opaque import licensing system called Approved Permit (AP), which covers the import of a range of items from rice to meat to seafood to fireworks and of course vehicles.
The local equity rules and the import licensing regime have been at the heart of the Malaysian economy for decades.
Economists have long maintained that the licensing regime and strict local equity rules make Malaysia unattractive as an investment destination.
The system raises the cost of doing business locally that is ultimately passed down to ordinary citizens who have been forced to put up with sharp spikes in the cost of living.
How the face-off will play out in the coming months is unclear, but it is set to bring the spotlight and stir debate on the serious distortions in the local economy that has spawned huge fortunes for politically privileged groups.
Like most Southeast Asian countries, Malaysia has long practiced a licensing system for the import of staple food items to meet local demand and manage domestic prices.
