He said, however, that going by the inflation rate, Malaysia was better off than many countries, Bernama reported.

“I would like to explain that the rising cost of living is not only happening in Malaysia but all over the world. Malaysia is not on a different planet. We are connected to what is happening in other countries,” he was quoted as saying.

Ismail then explained how the price of chicken had risen mainly because Malaysia has to import chicken feed, such as corn and soy, which had increased in price due to various reasons, including the conflict between Russia and Ukraine.

On the inflation rate, he said it currently stood at 2%. He added, however, that it was still considered low compared with other countries such as the United States (9%), European countries (between 8-10%), and the United Kingdom (12%).

“Our inflation rate is low because we are giving out subsidies. Without subsidies, our inflation rate may go up to between 8-11%.

“Hence, to ensure that the people are not burdened, the government continues providing subsidies even though there are some products that do not need subsidies,” he said.

Ismail was speaking at the opening of the Malaysian Trades Union Congress (MTUC) triennial delegates’ conference, which was held at the Balai Ungku Aziz, Universiti Malaya in Kuala Lumpur.

In a related development, he proposed that MTUC set up a team of volunteers to monitor and report any issue related to the prices of goods to the government.

He said such an effort would assist the government in collecting input from the public, in addition to reducing the misappropriation of subsidies given to the rakyat.

“The government is ready to listen to constructive suggestions from all quarters because we don’t know everything and we need feedback from the people,” he said.