The Malaysian government is expected to spend RM77.3 billion or $ 17.6 billion in subsidies and other cash assistance this year, the largest amount in history since the establishment of Malaya.
This has been stated by the Minister of Finance of Malaysia, Tengku Zafrul Aziz in an official statement from the ministry to support the price spike and control inflation.
According to him, a total of RM51 billion will be channeled in the form of subsidies to fuel, electricity and food in particular, as food inflation this year is as high as 5.2%.
In general, Malaysia's food inflation has now reached its highest level since November 2011 following a string of supply chain problems flanked by labor issues and the effects of the Russo-Ukrainian war earlier this year.
In addition, the consumer price index (CPI) for May also showed a surge compared to the previous month.
Meanwhile, Tengku Zafrul also announced the distribution of cash assistance of RM17.7 billion and the distribution of RM14.6 billion for other subsidies.
For the record, the Ministry during the day has given an explanation on the issue of withdrawal of cooking oil subsidy which sparked panic and anger of the people.
According to news from the Prime Minister's Office, the cooking oil subsidy for packets still remains and only the bottled cooking oil subsidy introduced during the Covid-19 pandemic period was abolished.
Nevertheless, it is undeniable that there has been an increase in commodity prices which has affected the increase in the price of goods including subsidy expenditure this year.
