The government will work hard to ensure that the problem faced by the people with regard to the cost of living could be tackled in the wake of the challenging global condition, said Najib Abdul Razak.
The prime minister said it was the responsibility of the government to do whatever was best in tackling the rising costs and find ways of reducing its effects on the people.
He said the 2012 Budget would pay special attention on managing the people’s cost of living and the government would draw up the best strategy to reduce the burden faced by the people and at the same time manage the country’s economic growth.
Thus, he said, the government had announced the seventh National Key Results Area (NKRA), namely tackling the rising cost of living, this year, after taking into account the increased cost of food and essential items globally.
“In two years since the NKRAs were announced, the cost of living in Malaysia has risen to affect a majority of the population, in varying degrees.
“Many are feeling the pinch, but are not quite aware that this phenomenon is occurring worldwide, and hitting many other countries fairly hard.
“The fact is that so many global factors have affected our cost of living and the poor and developing countries are feeling the worst impact,” he said on his blog www.1malaysia.com.my today.
Najib said this would be the role played by the seventh and latest NKRA whereby the government would look into ways to improve the agriculture supply chain to ensure minimal food loss during the production and supply process.
He said the government would continue with the price control system and manage the subsidies, which were already among the highest in the world.
“We will expand rakyat-focused initiatives such as the 1Malaysia Clinic, Kedai Rakyat 1Malaysia and most recently, the 1Malaysia Rakyat Menu. The latter is a programme to encourage food vendors to offer a package menu with a maximum price of RM2 for breakfast and RM4 for lunch at participating restaurants,” he added.
– Bernama
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