Don’t raise prices if not affected by SST increase, traders told

Fuziah Salleh told traders: ‘Don’t exploit the situation by raising prices. The ministry will enforce the law.’

PETALING JAYA: Traders have been cautioned against exploiting the increase in sales and service tax by raising prices even though their businesses are not in the four categories affected.

Fuziah Salleh, the deputy minister of domestic trade and cost of living, said the ministry’s focus was on four of the business categories affected by the SST increase.

“Consumers need to know which categories involve the SST increase. In this Ops Kesan (anti-profiteering) campaign, we focus on four: hospitality, health and wellness, training and education centres, and laundry services,” she said.

“We monitor these four and target establishments with a threshold value exceeding RM500,000, not the smaller ones. So, not all are affected, and the public should be aware that food and beverages are not included in the SST increase,” she said.

“Those not falling within these categories, including food and beverage traders, are urged not to exploit the situation by raising prices. The ministry will enforce the law,” Bernama quoted her as saying after visiting a Rahmah Madani sales carnival in Jengka, Pahang, today.

Fuziah hoped the public would be more aware of SST tax-related information. The SST rate went up from 6% to 8% in the specified categories on March 1.

In Kota Bharu, the ministry’s Kelantan director, Azman Ismail, said action would be taken against traders, including those in Ramadan bazaars, if there is evidence of profiteering.

Azman said food vendors in Ramadan bazaars are not directly affected by the SST increase, however monitoring would be conducted to ensure they do not take advantage of consumers.

He highlighted that under the Price Control and Anti-Profiteering Act 2011, traders cannot make a profit of more than 50% of the cost. “If there are traders involved in arbitrarily raising prices, we will take action under the Act,” he said.

Yesterday, the minister, Armizan Mohd Ali, said the ministry initiated Ops Kesan 2024 on March 1, to monitor the effects of implementing the new SST rate to ensure that traders do not take advantage of the situation by profiteering or illegally increasing prices.