Kuala lumpur: The government will continue monitoring prices of goods, especially food items, to ensure that the cost of living does not increase following the expansion of the Sales and Service Tax (SST) which comes into force this month, said Deputy Finance Minister Lim Hui Ying.

According to BERNAMA News Agency, food inflation averaged at 2.1 per cent in June and 2.4 per cent for the January-June 2025 period, which is higher than the national inflation rate of 1.1 per cent. Deputy Finance Minister Lim Hui Ying noted that the Ministry of Domestic Trade and Cost of Living will conduct on-site monitoring of prices to manage the impact of the SST expansion.

Lim emphasized that the government’s objective with the SST expansion is not to raise the prices of goods, particularly essential food items. She assured that the government will monitor the prices regularly to ensure that the cost of living remains stable, especially for essential food items. She addressed these concerns during a question and answer session in the Dewan Rakyat.

This statement was in response to a supplementary question from Datuk Seri Hamzah Zainuddin (PN-Larut), who inquired about the government’s measures to mitigate the food inflation rate, including the impact of the SST expansion on food price controls.