Malaysia is reporting low inflation rate all these years. But is this really true? We all know that we are getting less and less for the money we spend! The mee (noodle) on the plate is getting less and the drink is getting more expensive. So in reality what has been happening? Let's see....
This cracker was 410g until last week. Now the cracker is only 385gm but selling at the same price. So, this is a reduction of 6%. Look at LUX soap ...
It use to be 100gm per cake of soap! Ok, that was quite sometime ago, perhaps not that long ago since I still have them! The price used to be RM2+ for three.
Then, it went down by 10gm to 90gm. And at the same time, price gone up.
Now, if you go to the market, this same soap is now only 85g. The price today is RM3.30 for three. We bought some last week at a discount! Ok, now the sugar subsidy is 20 cent less. The minister said that traders and businessmen must not have exorbitant price increase of food! This is interesting ... he used exorbitant, ie, the price can still go up a little! However, have a look...
Drink in the coffee shops used to be using the bigger cup on the left, ie, 300ml. Now, everyone changed to the one on the right, ie, 250ml. So, a reduction of 16%. I know that prices of drink is now RM1.80 to RM2.50 from around RM0.80/1.20. In another word, the prices have more than double over that last 5 years.
Look at this franchise drink from Taiwan which is coming to Miri. It comes in a hefty 700ml cup! 700ml is almost equivalent to 3 cups from the coffee shop. No wonder youngsters love them. This also means that it is not as expensive as we all thought!
Ok, this is Miri. How about other town in Malaysia?