He said hypermarkets presently control 65% of retail trade in the country while the remaining 35% is held by small sundry shops.

“The hypermarkets really want the government to lift the restrictions so that they can also operate in the interior areas.

“We will not allow that because it will affect the small retail industry,” he said when winding up the debate at the Budget 2019 committee level for the Dewan Rakyat last night.

He said the government had to weigh the situation even though it knew that the presence of hypermarkets in the fringe areas would provide cheaper retail items to consumers.

“The advantage of hypermarkets is that they can buy goods cheaply, they are price-savvy, and they buy in large quantities and sell the goods at cheap prices.

“If we allow them to go to the fringe areas, it would benefit the consumers but the sundry shops would die off.”