SIBU (Oct 12): Hawkers at the Sibu Central Market hope that Budget 2024 would include greater help for them such as an increase in cash assistance due to the rising cost of living.
They also called for any assistance allocated to traders to be given immediately and channelled directly to them without much bureaucracy so that they could cope with the rising cost of living and operating costs.
Hajijah Leh, 47, a Kek Lapis seller, complained that business had been slow due to the declining number of buyers, making life even more difficult for her.
“As we know right now, all the prices of goods have increased. So I understand why buyers are very careful with what to buy.
“When there are fewer buyers, this causes us to suffer losses and makes our life as traders quite difficult,” she said.
Nevertheless Hajijah, who runs two stalls at the central market here, knew fully how the price hike had burdened the people and traders.
“It is not only the community that feels burdened by the increase in the prices of goods, we as traders are also burdened by the rising prices of raw materials for the production of our products; for example, the ingredients for Kek Lapis,” she said.
This said, Hajijah viewed that the rate per stall at the central market did not affect the traders much, as it was still affordable.
“So far, the fee per stall here is affordable – only around RM500 per year.”
Apart from selling Kek Lapis, Hajijah also sells ‘Terubok Masin’.
Meanwhile Catherine Sela, a handicrafts seller in her 60s, talked about competition.
“We know that the number of handicraft sellers has increased, so the competition is quite fierce now.
“This has also resulted in my sales being quite low; sometimes, there’s no sale at all in a day.
“I really hope Budget 2024 would allocate some assistance for hawkers like us,” she said.
Catherine also hoped that more allocation would be given to Sarawak under Budget 2024.
In a recent Bernama report, Deputy Finance Minister II Steven Sim had said that for Budget 2024, to be tabled in Parliament this Oct 13, it would focus on empowering and strengthening the micro and the small-medium enterprises (SMEs), so that they could compete in the new economy to drive the nation’s economic growth.
Sim said this was because the SMEs and micro-SMEs were among the main drivers of the Malaysian economy, boosted by their growth rate and job opportunities.
“Moreover, this sector (SMEs and micro-SMEs) was the most affected, especially during the height of the Covid-19 pandemic.
“Therefore, we need to revive this sector; secondly, we want the sector improve the value chain – raise the ceiling so that our SMEs can compete, not only in Malaysia, but globally in the new economy, digital, AI (artificial intelligence) and green economy,” said the federal deputy minister.
Source: https://www.theborneopost.com/2023/10/12/budget-2024-rising-costs-bite-into-traders-at-sibu-central-market/