Ministries must achieve 100 pct performance in Keluarga Malaysia Cheap Sale Programme

KUALA LUMPUR: The Special Task Force on Jihad Against Inflation has instructed the Keluarga Malaysia Cheap Sale (JMKM) Programme in 629 state legislative assembly constituencies to be fully implemented by all ministries entrusted with it by Sept 15.

Its chairman, Tan Sri Annuar Musa said this was because the implementation of the sales programme at the JMKM centres, which began on Aug 19, has, so far, not been encouraging.

"Reports tabled by the Ministry of Domestic Trade and Consumer Affairs (KPDNHEP) found the overall performance to be still less than 50 per cent... this is not good enough.

"The committee wants to see in two weeks' time (for it) to reach 100 per cent. Now, there are ministries which have only achieved 30 per cent, some 60 per cent and 40 per cent, due to the various problems they faced during implementation," he said.

Annuar, who is also Communications and Multimedia Minister, said this at the media conference after chairing the Special Task Force on Jihad Against Inflation meeting here today.

He said a total of 21 JMKM programmes at public university campuses would also be implemented within the next two weeks (until Sept 15) to ease the burden of students during these challenging times.

"Only thing is that on campuses, the students may not purchase raw materials like chicken and oil, but they need Internet data services, writing equipment and food.

"So, we will leave it to the Ministry of Entrepreneur Development and Cooperatives to see what are the items commonly used by the students as well as use the same (JMKM) mechanism so that students can purchase at discounted prices," he said.

Meanwhile, Annuar said the Cabinet had agreed to approve the review of scholarship rates under the Rural Development Ministry (KPLB), especially Majlis Amanah Rakyat (MARA), for all students, both domestic and overseas.

He said the government also took note of other government-related scholarships, including the Public Service Department (JPA), to ensure the increase of the scholarship rate was in line with the rise in the rate of inflation.

"So, it will be coordinated between the ministries and what KPLB recommended for MARA students has been approved by the Cabinet and the details will be announced by the relevant ministry.

"... in principle, taking into account the cost of living for domestic and foreign students, the Cabinet agreed for the scholarship rate to be increased and then adjusted," he said.

On the country's inflation situation, Annuar said that based on the month-to-month inflation rate comparison, the increase in inflation for July was moderated to 0.4 per cent compared to 0.6 per cent in June.

"The trend of higher inflation compared to last year is a global phenomenon that almost all countries are going through.

"The inflation rate for July 2022 compared to July 2021 for the United Kingdom is 10.1 per cent, European countries (Euro) (8.9 per cent), the United States (8.5 per cent), Thailand (7.6 per cent), Singapore (7 per cent), the Philippines (6.4 per cent), Indonesia (4.9 per cent) and our country (4.4 per cent)," he said.

-- BERNAMA