SHAH ALAM, June 23 — Affordable food sales and price interventions cannot be activated too often or on too grand a scale as they could disrupt the retail market and affect small businesses, said state executive councillor for infrastructure and agriculture Dato’ Izham Hashim.
He said the state government must strike a balance between helping consumers cope with rising living costs and protecting the livelihoods of smaller retailers.
“When we carry out interventions, if they are too extensive, they will disrupt the retail system.
“Many minimarkets and shops will complain that their sales are affected. We have considered this from the beginning,” he said in his debate wind-up speech on Phase 2 of the Selangor Resilience Enhancement Package (SREP) at the State Legislative Assembly today.
Izham said the state recognises the need to provide affordable food options to residents, but interventions cannot be indefinite.
“It will disrupt the wider supply system. If these businesses end up closing, they, too, will require assistance from us.”
He said the state government has expanded voucher-based aid programmes, including additional allocations under Bantuan Kehidupan Sejahtera Selangor (BINGKAS) and other initiatives, to support households while allowing spending to flow through local businesses.
He added that more convenience stores and minimarkets have been included as participating outlets for voucher redemptions.
On April 16, when announcing SREP Phase 1, Menteri Besar Dato’ Seri Amirudin Shari announced an additional RM5 million to hold Ehsan Rahmah Sales (JER), bringing the total funding to RM10 million for the year.
Izham said the state would keep monitoring the impact of programmes like JER and other food price interventions to ensure they don’t adversely affect traders.
“If we find these programmes are causing significant disruption to other businesses, we will reduce them, relocate them to more suitable locations or, if necessary, stop them.
“At this moment, they are very much needed and have provided benefits to many people,” Izham added.
