Ong said this includes sitting in the National Action Council on Cost of Living (NACCOL) to provide his views and to communicate any government plans which he thinks are workable to industry groups, business chambers and associations as well as the larger public.
“As the economic recovery in Malaysia continues apace in 2022, after two years of being ravaged by the Covid-19 pandemic, we are facing many domestic as well as international challenges,” he said in a statement today.
He suggested that each ministry publish its own index of producer and consumer costs based on economic sectors and activities which come under their purview, and work with the department of statistics Malaysia (DOSM) to analyse data and to collect additional data if and when needed.
“The ministries which currently sit in NACCOL should prepare a resiliency plan for key economic sectors, including alert levels for possible supply chain disruptions, instead of tackling the crisis only when the situation becomes untenable,” he said.
Doing so would ensure that ministries are prepared for different possible outcomes for different sectors of the economy.
Ong said there was a need for inter-ministerial cooperation to address these issues “rather than each ministry working in silos”.
He urged the home affairs ministry and human resources ministry to make public their key performance indicators (KPIs) for the processing of foreign worker visa applications for each sector of the economy.
This would reduce supply chain and cost pressures faced by businesses as the domestic, regional and global economy continues to open up.
He also said there must be proper communication between the government and the public through press briefings, press statements and the social media to ensure that the public and relevant stakeholders have greater confidence in the government to tackle these challenges.
“Since these inflationary pressures will be present for the remainder of the year and perhaps beyond, some of the lessons learned from the chicken fiasco can still be put in place for other sectors of the economy,” he said.
On May 23, Prime Minister Ismail Sabri Yaakob said exports of whole chicken will be banned from June 1, while import permits for chicken and wheat will be abolished as part of measures to stem a chicken shortage.
The new measures will be in effect until chicken prices and production levels are stabilised.