Speaking at the World Economic Forum’s annual meeting in Davos, Switzerland, finance minister Tengku Zafrul Aziz said the higher subsidies had resulted in a lower core inflation rate at 2.3%.

Although inflation is on the rise, he said Malaysia is lucky because the country has commodities to cushion the impact of fuel prices, unlike other countries.

Tengku Zafrul was one of the panellists at a session titled “Global Risks in an Era of Turbulence”.

Asked whether Asian governments were able to maintain or support the price of rice for the people, Tengku Zafrul said there is a lot of government assistance to ensure that supply is secured, and at the same time, large amounts of subsidies are allocated so that the price is maintained given the importance of rice to Malaysians.