Are Consumers Wiser With Their Spending Post-GST?

A wiser spending trend among consumers in Malaysia has emerged since the implementation of the Goods and Services Tax (GST).

According to Datuk N. Marimuthu, president of Federation of Malaysia Consumers Association (Fomca), consumers are beginning to accept and understand GST, as compared to its initial implementation last month.

“The average consumers are now more aware about the importance of practising their purchasing power by comparing the prices of goods, checking the receipts, referring to the GST guidelines and the price tags.”

Based on the monitoring activity conducted by Fomca in most supermarkets in the country, he added, the selling prices of products had become more stable, even though some items were still found to be priced higher than they were supposed to.

Fomca is now proposing that the retail trade makes choices easier for consumers by labelling items in the category of zero-rated goods, and prices of pre- and post-GST, with different colour price tags.

[Source]