EXCLUSIVE | Malaysians have become “addicted” to eating out and are spending a considerable portion of their earnings every month to satiate such a habit, said Economy Minister Rafizi Ramli.

Blaming this on past policies, he said in comparison with other economies such as South Korea, Malaysian households spend a relatively big proportion of their income on takeout and eating out, resulting in the depletion of their tight disposable income.

This, he added, makes local households more sensitive to knock-on inflation on the price of cooked food, even when headline inflation has declined...