The Special Affairs Department (Jasa) has rubbished claims by hypermarket tycoon Ameer Ali Mydin that Malaysians have less spending power today although the country is experiencing positive economic growth.
Jasa strategic communications director Tun Faisal Ismail Aziz said it was wrong to draw an inference that reduced spending power was directly correlated with spending at hypermarkets.
"It is wrong to conclude that... less spending in hypermarkets is an indicator that the rakyat has no money," he said in a statement today.
Tun Faisal said GDP growth was not determined by hypermarkets alone, pointing out that other industries are experiencing growth, such as agriculture, mining, manufacturing, construction, services, utilities and F&B.
He added that major car makers such as Honda, Perodua and Mercedes have recorded higher sales volumes in 2017, while the number of Malaysians holidaying abroad and domestically had also been rising exponentially.
Ameer, who owns the popular Mydin hypermarket chain, told BFM that the hypermarket industry had contracted by 4.8 percent during the first quarter last year while retail sales shrunk by 1.2 percent, against the GDP growth of 5.6 percent.
"For domestic consumption, they are basic goods. But hypermarkets and supermarkets (in Malaysia) which control 50 percent of the grocery market are (seeing) negative (growth).
"I think people just don't have the money," he said, adding that the spiraling cost of goods had made people spend less.
Although Tun Faisal did not address the rising cost of goods, he pointed out that Mydin group's woes were likely linked to poor business decisions, such as its unsuccessful convenience store chain and premium grocery venture.
As for belt-tightening, he said Ameer should assume that Malaysians are becoming wiser consumers.
"They don't stock up like before. Moreover, competition is getting stiffer and people will shop in places which offer the lowest prices," he said.
Tun Faisal said his conclusion was that Ameer should not be asking the question of whether consumers are able to spend, but upon analysing the facts, it was Mydin group's bad business decisions that caused it to suffer losses.
"Without (a proper) analysis, it can be expected that Malaysiakini and pro-Pakatan news portals will take advantage of such statements.
"BFM tried to instigate Ameer and the Domestic Trade and Consumer Affairs Minister Hamzah Zainuddin. Luckily, Ameer replied wisely," he said.
In a related development, the Friends of BN Facebook page also disputed Ameer's claim by pointing out that Malaysians are queuing up to splurge on luxury goods such as the iPhone X and spending hundreds of millions of ringgit on online sales last quarter.
"During Lazada's 11.11 sales, there were RM100 million (in revenue). On 12.12, it was RM1 billion. We spend RM2.45 billion in digital games alone. Come on la Mydin," said the group.
