Wednesday December 2, 2009

Government mulls over plan to abolish sugar subsidy

KUALA LUMPUR: The Government is studying whether it should withdraw its subsidy on sugar to reduce its consumption among Malaysians.

The Domestic Trade, Co-operatives and Consumerism Ministry said it was seriously mulling over the proposals by various groups to cut the subsidy and would bring the matter to the Cabinet for discussion.

“We are studying whether to reduce or abolish entirely the sugar subsidy. We admit that the subsidy currently given by the Government is high,” minister Datuk Seri Ismail Sabri Yaakob told reporters after launching a campaign to reduce sugar intake organised by the Consumers Association of Penang (CAP) here yesterday.

Ismail Sabri said the Government spent RM720mil in sugar subsidy in order to maintain the price at RM1.45 per kilo this year.

However, he said, the sugar price might reach RM2.45 per kilo if the ministry abolished the subsidy.

“Other factors taken into account for the removal of the subsidy is that Malaysia is the only country with a sugar subsidy. At the same time, the Government is encouraging Malay­sians to live a healthier lifestyle by consuming less sugar,” he added.

Earlier, CAP president S.M. Mohd Idris urged the Government to abolish the subsidy as this had incurred a high cost. Several other consumer associations had also proposed the same.

In an immediate reaction, Malaysian Diabetes Association president Prof Dr Ikram Shah Ismail said the Government’s move would result in an improvement to the overall health of Malaysians.

He said this was because besides diabetes, sugar caused people to put on weight, increased cholesterol and blood pressure.

“All these can raise the risk of heart disease,” he added.

“It will make people stop and think about how much sugar they are consuming.”

He said it would take between one and two years for any noticeable change in the health of Malaysians to be noticed if the subsidy was cut.

“Such a move could also result in food producers reducing the amount of sugar used,” he said.

Dr Ikram Shah pointed out that a similar move by the New Zealand government to reduce the amount of oil used to cook fries had resulted in a drop of obese people there.

The National Health and Morbidity Survey in 2006 revealed that 43.1% of Malaysian adults were overweight or obese, which was double the figure from a decade ago.