Lower egg price doesn't compensate for diesel price hike, MCA says

The lowering of egg prices by three sen does not compensate for the 55 percent increase in diesel prices, said MCA.

According to party vice-president Wee Jeck Seng, a lot of government policies are made without deep consideration, and as a result, the rakyat has to bear the consequences.

“Not only does the rakyat have to suffer from the rising cost of living, but the declining purchasing power can also hinder economic development,” he said in a statement today.

Wee was responding to Prime Minister Anwar Ibrahim’s explanation on the egg price reduction yesterday.

According to the premier, this is because a study found that eggs were the most consumed by Malaysian families, especially lower-income households that can consume around four eggs per day.

Wee, who is also Tanjong Piai MP, further claimed that Anwar’s justification on the matter does not compensate for the drastic increase in diesel prices following the subsidy rationalisation for the latter.

“While rationalising subsidy, the government allocated RM100 million to subsidise 10 sen for each egg, which reduced the retail prices of Grade A, B, and C eggs by three sen each. This shows a contradiction in policies.

“Furthermore, before the rakyat could enjoy the price reduction of three sen, egg traders had increased the price of a pack of 30 eggs by 50 sen, and the media reported that night market traders are considering raising prices due to the increase in diesel prices,” said Wee.

RM4b economic package

He then called for a review of the diesel subsidy rationalisation, while stepping up monitoring and enforcement.

“The government must work toward stabilising the market, and seek the opinion of various parties to ensure a more comprehensive policy implementation.

“At the same time, instead of allocating RM100 million to lower the price of eggs by three sen, the government should pay more attention to protection for middle- and low-income families, to ease the pressure they face due to the increase in the price of goods.

“This is more in line with the principle of targeted subsidies,” he said.

Gerakan president Dominic Lau urged the government to create an economic package or people’s aid programme worth RM4 billion, which is equivalent to the amount of savings in government expenditure as a result of targeted subsidies.

In a separate statement, Lau claimed the egg price reduction initiative benefited “egg bosses” (tauke telur).

“Anwar explained that the government intends to lower the price of eggs by three sen to help the poorest people. But without realising it, the Madani government has succeeded in deceiving the people and helping the egg ‘bosses’ to profit from subsidies.

“The scenario is that the Madani government adds a subsidy of RM100 million or the equivalent of 10 sen per egg to pay the producers, but the people only receive the benefit of a reduction of three sen per egg and the remaining seven go to the producers,” said Lau in a separate statement.

He questioned whether the government was sincere in helping the people, or whether the egg price reduction was merely a tactic to attract votes for the Sungai Bakap by-election, as the egg producers have said there is no guarantee that the price of eggs will remain.

“In my opinion, the right step is for the government to ensure that egg productivity increases from time to time as it can help in terms of demand and reduce supply, at the same time ensuring the price of eggs can be maintained or reduced,” said Lau.

He claimed that the Madani government’s “insensitive” move would further damage the country’s economic system, and make the rakyat suffer more.

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