The government is to establish a national food stockpile in order to stabilise prices and avert shortages which have hit in recent weeks, reports said Thursday.

As well as the stockpile of essential goods, which will include rice and cooking oil, the government is to set up a National Price Council to prevent irregularities like hoarding and panic-buying.

"The overriding objective of the council is to minimise the impact of rising prices on the cost of living and the decline in the people's purchasing power," Deputy Prime Minister Najib Razak told the state Bernama news agency.

Rising prices and shortages of staples have become a big issue in Malaysia, and a concern for the government as it prepares to call elections expected to be held in March.

Earlier this month, shortages of flour and oil caused supermarket shelves to be stripped, and restaurants to warn that some popular dishes would soon be off the menu.

Ministers not doing the jobs

The government is also moving to bar Singaporeans and Thais from taking home staple foods like flour and sugar, which are heavily subsidised here, to avert further shortages.

Singaporeans often make day trips across the causeway linking the island state to Malaysia to fill their petrol tanks and buy groceries which are cheaper here.

Malaysia's parliamentary opposition seized on the announcement as an admission that the government had failed in its previous attempts to ensure a constant supply of food at steady prices.

"This demonstrates that other ministers have not been doing their jobs and that the entire government machinery is just not performing," said DAP secretary general Lim Guan Eng.

It also criticised the appointment of Prime Minister Abdullah Ahmad Badawi as head of the price council, saying that he already had three roles as premier, finance minister and internal security minister.