Category: Financial Literacy EN

The Consumers Association of Penang (CAP) calls on Bank Negara Malaysia (BNM) to ensure that banks do not impose any interest charges/profit on hire-purchase loans and fixed-rate Islamic financing of the B40 and M20 groups for the six-month moratorium period. Interest charges have already been calculated upfront in the loans. These are extraordinary times. Many from these two groups have lost...

The Consumers’ Association of Penang (CAP) expresses its support for a recent statement made by the Employees Provident Fund (EPF) chief executive officer Tunku Alizakri Alias reminding the contributors that their savings “are for the future” and should not be withdrawn. He pointed out that 71.4 per cent of the self-employed have less than one month’s worth of savings while 82.7 per cent...

The Consumers’ Association of Penang (CAP) views the current Covid-19 epidemic situation with concern as, until 10 March, the virus has infected 116,345 victims worldwide. Moreover, Covid-19 negatively impacted on the availability and the cost of many pharmaceutical and medical products (facemasks included) since China was a major producer and exporter. We urge the government to review the...

A survey carried out by CAP over the past few days has shown a significant increase in the price of Red Chilli, Long Beans, Lady’s Finger, Tomato and Beans. The prices have increased from between 20% to 70%. With Chinese New Year around the corner, the above mentioned items will be in even greater demand. Some retailers even complain that several distributors and wholesalers have warned that...

We refer to the article in The Star 22nd October 2019 “Costly meds a bitter pill to swallow”. For too long the prices of medicines in the country have been left unregulated, at the expense of consumers who pay out of pocket and the Ministry of Health that is providing healthcare for millions of Malaysians. In 2018 MOH spent more than RM 2.38 billion on medicines alone.  Now we find that...

CAP refers to the recent claim by the Penang Ex-Co for housing and local government YB Jagdeep Singh Deo that the renovation packages are voluntary. Responding to recent complaints, he retorted that "if the buyer wants an empty unit, with absolutely nothing, and wants to take his own mattress and one pillow to go and sleep there, then the developer must sell it to them at either RM42,000 or...

The Finance Minister announced during the recent National Budget 2020 that the government is lowering the threshold on high rise property prices to RM600,000 from RM1 million for a year. This is to enable foreign ownership of condominium and apartments in urban areas to reduce the existing overhang of these properties that amounted to RM8.3 billion in the second quarter of 2019. As such we wish...

Penang’s two local councils, the MBPP and MBSP, have increased the assessment rates of a total of 322,549 and 327,401 properties on the island and Seberang Perai respectively. The reasons given for this move is that the local councils had not reviewed for the past 15 years and that they are experiencing an annual deficit since 2016. It was reported that as in April 2019 there were 54,792...

The Consumers’ Association of Penang is completely against banks attempting to profit more than they already do from implementing unfair policies. We are against the RM0.50 CRM (cash recycling machine) and CQM (cheque deposit machine) transaction fee and the RM2.00 for counter transactions fee. It has been reported that certain banks have announced beginning 1st October 2019 they will be...

With the anti-government protest going on in Hong Kong, Malaysian developers are making a beeline to attract Hong Kong investors to buy properties here. This may ease the overhang in the local property market but it is not going to solve housing problems faced by our people. Penang, Selangor, and Johor have set the highest minimum property prices for foreigners to acquire properties. For Selangor...