KUALA LUMPUR (July 18): The Keluarga Malaysia Sales Programme, which was launched in December last year, will now be expanded to more areas nationwide and will be held on a weekly basis.
It will be held in 600 state constituencies and 13 parliamentary constituencies compared with 222 parliamentary constituencies previously, said Special Task Force on Jihad Against Inflation chairman Tan Sri Annuar Musa.
He said the programme, for which about RM80 million has been allocated, will see the expansion under phase two from this month until the end of the year.
Various big and small outlets, including co-op shops, will be roped in with the help of local leaders and peoples' representatives and they can help choose the locations and help organise the sales, he told a press conference at the parliament building.
"The rakyat will be able to buy goods that are cheaper by up to 20% of market prices. This can ease the burden of monthly living costs, especially in terms of kitchen items and necessities.
"Items to be sold include chicken, fish, chicken eggs, sugar, cooking oil, wheat flour, vegetables and fruits," he said.
Annuar said five ministries will be involved in the programme, namely the Ministry of Domestic Trade and Consumer Affairs, the Ministry of Agriculture and Food Industries, the Ministry of Rural Development, the Ministry of Entrepreneur Development and Co-operatives, and the Ministry of Federal Territories.
The minister said the government's commitment to helping the rakyat amid rising cost of living is evidenced by the increase in national subsidies to more than RM77 billion from the original allocation of RM31 billion in 2020. Of this amount, RM1.1 billion is spent on chicken and egg subsidies.
"The government's action to provide the chicken subsidy shows its determination to help the people because this is the first time a chicken subsidy has been given to ensure the supply of chicken is restored.
"Now we can see the result where prices have started to stabilise," he said.
Annuar said the government's weekly price is found to have a positive effect as the price is actually below the control price of RM9.40 for Peninsular Malaysia.
The national average weekly price until July 9 was RM9.22 with Pahang recording the lowest price at RM8.95.