Rising cost of living may spoil CNY mood this year, says ACCCIS man

KUCHING (Jan 15): Rising cost of living could hamper the mood to celebrate Chinese New Year, with sales of items associated with the festive season to likely be affected.

In making this observation, Associated Chinese Chambers of Commerce and Industry of Sarawak (ACCCIS) secretary-general Dato Jonathan Chai said the prices of goods and services had already escalated significantly after the height of the Covid-19 pandemic.

“Due to rising cost of living and the anticipated challenges to be encountered in the coming year, the festive mood would likely be dampened and the sales of the traditional festive-related items like biscuits, Mandarin oranges, nuts and also decorative items, are expected to be adversely affected to a certain extent,” he said when contacted yesterday.

Nonetheless, Chai expressed hope that the Madani Government led by Prime Minister Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim would address logistic issues and transportation costs that had contributed to the rising prices of goods in Sarawak so far.

“Just to quote a few examples, a cup of coffee at a coffee shop here easily costs around RM2.50 now, and if you’re having a wedding banquet at a restaurant, you’d have to pay around RM800 per table, a phenomenon that was unseen before the pandemic.”

Chai acknowledged that higher cost of living could be attributed to the rise in labour cost due to the revision of statutory minimum wage, and also rising cost of raw materials due to inflationary pressures happening globally.

Depreciation of the ringgit currency might also be a contributing factor, he added.

In this regard, Chai pointed out that it was vital for the country to maintain political stability so as to attract foreign investors to come to the country.

“Most importantly, it’s time for the politicians and lawmakers to focus their time and energy on coming up with ways to develop our economy and bring down the cost of living, rather than wasting their efforts in wrestling over power.”

Chai believed that the nation’s economy would flourish and the ringgit would appreciate upon it receiving an influx of foreign investments and achieving favourable balance of trade.

“Of course, we also hope that all the geopolitical tensions and turmoil around the world could end soon so that the supply chain of goods would return to normal as soon as possible,” he said.