LABUAN: The Ministry of Domestic Trade and Cost of Living may review Labuan’s import quotas for cooking oil and eggs.
Deputy Minister Senator Fuziah Salleh said a review might be necessary to overcome the constant shortage of these commodities on the duty-free island.
“I have taken note of the shortage of eggs, cooking oil and sugar, and higher prices of chicken as highlighted by consumers and traders here.
“We can consider reviewing the quotas of egg and cooking oil imports to help resolve the shortage,“ she told a press conference after officiating at the Labuan-level Aduan Suri at the Financial Park Food Court here today.
Fuziah said the issue of costly goods on the island should be resolved as it could lead to an uncontrollably high cost of living.
“We will review the ministry’s Price Standardisation Programme so that goods prices on this island can be standardised like in other towns in Sabah. We understand the dissimilarity in prices is partly contributed by the logistics issue.
“For instance, the price of standard chicken in the Peninsula is RM9.40 per kg whereas in Labuan it is RM12.30 per kg,” she said.
On the ‘Payung Rahmah’ initiative to reduce the cost of living for the lower-income group (B40) and hardcore poor, she said it had received overwhelming response from both consumers and traders.
“As of today, we have registered 1,085 food outlets throughout the country to offer Menu Rahmah, including 26 in Labuan,’’ she said.
She said the ministry would launch ‘Cafe Rahmah’ to ease the financial burden of students of higher learning institutions. – BERNAMA
