One of the many Malaysians who is feeling the pinch is professional videographer Shunmugam Karuppannan, who also covers food prices.
These days, the 50- yr- old thinks double about taking his family to a restaurant, yet if they ate out just once a month earlier.
The ringgit has fallen, and as Malaysia imports about 60 % of its food, this has led to imported inflation, to the extent that his nine-year-old daughter is now attending college.
” Every day I’d give her RM2. And she did n’t tell me anything about ( prices being ) hiked up in the canteen”, he recounted.
After a few days of her skipping meals, he “got to know that the amount, RM2, of mee ho or whatever … had gone to Stock 3”.
The weakening ringgit has a wide range of income effects. Elliza Abdul Rahim, 54, who belongs to the M40 party, or the end 40 per cent of salary workers, has also become more price- conscious.