PARLIAMENT | The National Cost of Living Action Council will be holding its first meeting at the end of this month, says Domestic Trade and Consumer Affairs Minister Saifuddin Nasution Ismail.

The meeting, according to Nasution, will be chaired by Deputy Prime Minister Dr Wan Azizah Wan Ismail, and will discuss six clusters which contribute to the people’s rising cost of living, namely food, housing, utilities, health, education and transport.

“These areas are the main contributors to the cost of living,” he said in the winding-up debate on the royal decree for his ministry at Dewan Negara today.

Saifuddinsaid an action plan would be formulated from this meeting and if it was related with a certain cluster, the related ministry would be responsible to take further action.

On the development of Ops Catut 5.0 which was held with the implementation of the sales and service tax (SST) from Sept 1, Saifuddin said 3,084 business premises had been inspected involving 83,000 goods.

In the three-day operation conducted from Saturday, he said 434 business premises were given notices under Section 21 of the Price Control and Anti-Profiteering Act 2011 for significant price hikes. 

The senate will sit again tomorrow.

- Bernama