PUTRAJAYA, April 30 — The Domestic Trade, Cooperatives and Consumerism Ministry revealed yesterday the prices of many goods have gone down since the implementation of the Goods and Services Tax (GST) on April 1.

Its secretary-general Datuk Seri Alias Ahmad shared the findings of the National Price Council (NPC) that showed 99 items in the peninsula, 142 items in Sabah and 102 items in Sarawak are cheaper.

“Some things have gone up. It is unavoidable. One of the factors is the value of the ringgit when importing items,” he said.

“But this nationwide survey is proof some items have gone down.”

Among the highest percentage drop in prices in the peninsula are imported white shrimps (19.39 per cent), imported white pomfret (16.93 per cent) and tomatoes (10.76 per cent).

Sabah saw a 72.39 per cent drop for red grapes and 19.56 per cent for imported beef while Sarawak saw a drop of 19.63 per cent for mandarin oranges and 8.12 per cent for local cabbage.

The average prices were calculated based on visits to businesses in every state by the NPC which had 1,250 officers monitoring the situation nationwide.

Alias also asked the public to give the ministry time to finalise the cases of profiteering that have occurred since the implementation of GST.

“The time taken depends on the complexity of the case. It includes investigating the businesses’ operational costs and how they determined their pricing,” he said.

“These cases require time. We must be fair to the business owners as well as the consumers.”

Until Tuesday, investigations for 34 cases of alleged profiteering had started with two owners issued compounds while five more cases are pending legal action. 

During this period, 182,059 sites had been visited with 729 notices for various offences including profiteering issued.