Cost of living major concern for Malaysians, says survey

By Shannon Teoh

People queue for free portions of “bubur lambuk” at Masjed Jamek in Kuala Lumpur, August 1, 2011. — Picture by Jack Ooi

KUALA LUMPUR, Aug 1 — An online survey has found that Malaysians are increasingly concerned about how to make ends meet as inflation continues to surge ahead of a general election expected within the year. The Nielsen Global Online Survey said that the most important concern was the economy (18 per cent) with fuel (16) and food prices (13) also preoccupying the public as Putrajaya continues to cut subsidies to trim a deficit budget.

The survey, polling 31,000 consumers from 56 countries, also found that Malaysians were concerned with debt and 42 per cent wanted to pay off debts with any spare cash they had, the highest percentage of the countries surveyed.
The central bank had said in March that household debt stood at RM581 billion at the end of 2010, nearly 80 per cent of Malaysia’s gross domestic product.
“The price hikes in subsidised items such as sugar, diesel, petrol and electricity tariff remain at the heart of the issue for Malaysians,” said Kow Kuan Hua, Nielsen Malaysia’s managing director.
Despite this, Malaysians remain confident of their financial future, with almost eight in 10 Malaysians saying they were optimistic of their local job prospects — the second highest in the survey — while two-thirds said their personal finances were good.
Malaysia saw a 9.3 per cent increase in retail fast-moving consumer goods (FMCG) although this came in a period of surging inflation, which saw the consumer price index hit a two-year high of 3 per cent in March and continuing to rise to 3.5 per cent in June.
Nielsen believes the inflationary pressure will cause consumers to continue being cautious with their disposable income as 84 per cent of Malaysians said they had changed their spending patterns to save on household expenses.
The Economist Intelligence Unit (EIU) also reported that the cost of living in Kuala Lumpur had risen by nearly 25 per cent over the past two years, posing a challenge for Barisan Nasional (BN), which is aiming to bounce back from its worst-ever electoral performance in 2008.
A street poll of 100 city dwellers by The Malaysian Insider recently also saw 44 per cent blaming the government for the rising cost of living as compared with 41 per cent attributing it to global factors, and only 5 per cent blaming it on business owners.
Although the economy rebounded to a 7.2 per cent growth last year, inflation and subsidy cuts have been a source of public anger towards the Najib administration, which is expected to call a general election within the year.
Putrajaya remains committed to a programme of subsidy cuts, which it says it must implement to avoid the subsidy bill doubling to RM21 billion this year.