Businesses citing GST hike for ‘unjustified’ price increases may be publicly highlighted: Low Yen Ling

ASKED what the government can do besides publicly naming businesses that use the goods and services tax (GST) increase as an excuse to raise prices unjustifiably, Minister of State for Trade and Industry Low Yen Ling did not explicitly answer the question, but repeated that the Committee Against Profiteering (CAP) is prepared to “publicly highlight” such businesses.

West Coast GRC Member of Parliament Foo Mee Har had asked what other enforcement powers the government has. In her reply in Parliament on Monday (Jan 9), Low said: “The CAP will continue to review all feedback received and will engage businesses, where necessary, to address the issue.”

The GST rate rose on Jan 1 from 7 per cent to 8 per cent. The CAP’s role is to review and investigate feedback on unjustified price increases of essential products and services that use the GST increase as an excuse.

Foo later asked if the government can provide prices of key daily items for consumers’ reference. To this, Low replied that consumers can use the Price Kaki mobile application to compare prices of more than 10,000 supermarket items and more than 37,000 cooked food items from food courts, hawker centres, and coffee shops.

This year, the application has a new feature allowing consumers to compare unit prices of more than 1,200 grocery items, Low added. “This is really what we want – free market competition and for consumers to have a wide range of choices. And Price Kaki will allow our fellow Singaporeans to make an informed purchasing decision.”

Businesses are encouraged to be transparent in their communication on price increases, noted Low. The Consumers Association of Singapore publishes best practices on price display and communication, and the Inland Revenue Authority of Singapore has also an advisory for businesses which need to adjust their prices.

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Low added that trade association partners have been guiding their members in clearly communicating any price increases. “For instance, the Federation of Merchants’ Association Singapore and the Heartland Enterprise Centre Singapore have conducted extensive outreach and walkabouts in coffee shops, in HDB shops, in hawker centres, to remind their members of the need to be transparent about the reasons for any price increases.”

Consumers can report potential instances of GST misrepresentation to the CAP via the CAP’s online feedback form or hotline, or at any Community Club, Low added.