Cha Kee Chin (PH-Rasah) said such incentives will encourage more restaurants to take part in the initiative to provide meals for RM5.

“Otherwise they will complain that they sell food for cheap, yet the price of raw ingredients remains (high) and therefore, they could not make a profit,” he told the Dewan Rakyat when debating the Budget 2023 at the committee stage.

Launched on Jan 31, the Menu Rahmah initiative is aimed at providing affordable meals, especially to those who come under the B40 group.

Last week, domestic trade and cost of living minister Salahuddin Ayub was reported to have said that more than 1,500 business premises have registered to implement the initiative nationwide.

Ameer Ali Mydin, the managing director of Mydin hypermarket, which is one of the business premises involved in the Menu Rahmah programme, warned that the chain will only be able to run the initiative for three months if the price of raw ingredients kept increasing.

Earlier this month, a restaurateur in Penang said on social media that he was forced to discontinue the programme, citing lukewarm response and financial losses.