PUTRAJAYA, Oct 10 — Proposals under the National Housing Policy, including the provision of long-term housing loans, will be discussed by the Finance Ministry with Bank Negara (BNM) and the Housing and Local Government Ministry.
Deputy Prime Minister Datuk Seri Ahmad Zahid Hamidi said this was among the matters agreed upon during the executive committee meeting of the National Action Council on Cost of Living (Naccol) held here today.
“This is to ensure lower-income individuals and households can own homes without being burdened by rising house prices,” he said in a statement after the meeting.
Zahid, who is also Naccol executive committee chairman, said the meeting discussed the household debt-to-GDP ratio, which increased from 67.2 per cent in 2002 to 81.2 per cent in 2022.
He added that the residential property sector now dominates household loans, with housing credit climbing from 36 per cent in 1997 to 59.7 per cent in 2022, which has a significant impact on disposable income levels, and as such, the committee agreed to look into the matter.
During the meeting, the Statistics Department presented the Cost of Living Indicators 2023, developed to provide insights into the expenses required for households to meet a decent standard of living, including social participation.
Zahid said Prime Minister Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim is set to launch the indicators on November 2, adding that it would add value to the government’s policymaking on cost-of-living issues, particularly in implementing targeted aid to target groups.
Another topic discussed was the co-payment features for Medical and Health Insurance and Takaful, with the committee informed that this approach could provide consumers with more options and encourage healthy competition among insurers and takaful operators to offer products suited to consumers’ financial capacities.
“According to Bank Negara, the co-payment feature can offer prices that are 19 to 68 per cent lower compared with products without co-payment, demonstrating a good balance between supply and demand in the country’s healthcare sector,” said Zahid.
The committee also discussed the implementation of two co-payment features, deductibles and co-insurance/takaful, which could create a sustainable healthcare ecosystem through transparent medical billing and policyholder involvement.
— Bernama
