Cost of living shows little sign of easing, weeks after SST kicks in
(MMO) – Almost a month after Putrajaya rolled out the new Sales and Services Tax (SST), the full impact is yet to be felt on the ground, with consumers interviewed by TODAY saying they have not seen a pronounced dip in the cost of living.
Self-employed Lester Kong, 38, who is based in Kuala Lumpur, said the only reduction he sees is his broadband bill, which has gone down slightly from RM200.35 to RM189.
“Other than that, my expenses remain more or less the same, at RM1,200 a month,” he said.
Systems engineer Ng Jason added: “My monthly household expenses only dropped by RM100, from RM1,500 during the pre-SST time to RM1,400 now.”
Ng, 37, who lives in Seremban, Negri Sembilan, said that during the tax free holiday, after the Goods and Services Tax (GST) was zero-rated and before the SST kicked in, “we were buying a lot of things because it was cheap”.
“But as we anticipate prices to increase in the next few months (as the SST system is fully implemented), we can no longer indulge in impulse buying and have to budget accordingly.”
