From "High Income Nation" Straight To "No Income Nation", Bypassing "Low Income" : GST Closing Down Supermarts, Hypermarts Making Losses - from the Blog SyedOutSideTheBox

I went to our nearby supermarket this morning. It is closing down. I became suspicious when the supermarket did not have eggs for sale. (Can you imagine a supermart that does not sell eggs !!) Then I noticed their shelves were empty.

 

 

One girl said that they were closing down because the "complex owner" wanted to renovate the building. Why renovate if the business is good? The entire complex will shut down. I think easily another 300 workers will join the ranks of the "No Income Nation".

Folks, more than 1MDB, more than the thievery and the stupidity it is the GST that is killing the economy. The GST must be abolished completely and instantly. No such thing as abolishing the GST in stages. Just abolish it. Now.

 

The GST has sent prices up sky high. The GST is not just 6%. It has a compounding effect. My belief is the actual effect on prices was at least 15%. The sad thing is salaries and wages have not increased by 15% since the GST was implemented two years ago. Salaries are stagnating. Or salaries become zero when you lose your job.

 

That supermart and the complex that is closing down "for renovations" will cause a loss of over 300 jobs. 300 workers will go from "earning some income" to become No Income Nation.

 

Here is a news item. The Mydin chain of hypermarkets and supermarkets has made their first losses in 60 years. Here is Dato Ameer Ali Mydin the MD of Mydin Hypermart :

 

 

Mydin Mohamed Holdings record huge loss for (FY16), first fall in 60 years.

MD Ameer Ali said retail group “lucky” to maintain same figures this year

country’s largest hypermarket chain saw sales down by 5%

Unfortunately it was implementation of the Goods and Services Tax (GST).

Then fluctuation of US dollar rate

 

and the Price Control and Anti-Profiteering Act 2011

in 2015, first time in Mydin’s history, we reported a massive loss

 

quandary about foreign workers “stifled” business, depend on labour

It is a mess. (In) supermarkets, queues longer (because of lack of staff)

 

difficult to get foreigners to work in Malaysia as policies are unclear

Nepal, Philippines, Indon workers can find jobs elsewhere, better remuneration

govt increased levy by RM600 for construction, manufacturing, services

 

Employer Mandatory Commitment (EMC) introduced on Jan 1, 2017

 

employers to pay levy instead of deducting it from employees

Ameer said wholesale sector, retailers reported substantial deficits last year

2016 retail disappointing growth rate of 1.9% compared to 2015.

consumers yet to recover from negative impact of GST introduced April 1, 2015

Ameer added govt’s decision to reduce cheap sales to four per year did not help

Retailers allowed eight cheap sales in year

 

five by the law, three by administration

 

Now only allow four, three fixed dates, one decided by administration

I mean (the consumers’) budget is limited

they can only go to one place

If you go to Zara, what happens to Metro and Jaya Jusco?” Ameer queried.

businesses need flexibility to have sales at different times as strategy

government cannot be getting involved, telling businesses when and what to do

 

issue is not how much money we can make

 

issue is whether we have cashflow to pay suppliers, staff, rental

nobody is thinking of profitability

 

All thinking of cashflow

weak performance, Mydin to scale down expansion plans

our current investment plan is postponed

 

until we see light at the end of tunnel,” Ameer stated.

 

Anonymous said...

I went to Aeon Big Kota Damansara yesterday and was surprised to discover that it was also shutting down this month; most shelves were empty with selected items sold with closing-down discounts. It's a huge store and surely lots of people will lose jobs.

This Aeon Big primarily serves the mid to lower income groups in that area, the malay neighborhoods and the flats at Kota Damansara. You can count the Chinese on one hand there. It's almost always packed with malay families. The Chinese folks in Kota Damansara are generally well off and hang out at The Curve or 1Utama.

It was sad to see the makciks rummaging through the discounted items, some just placed on the floor. Even a MYR 1.00 saving on Milo makes a huge difference these days. Eggs were about to be expired but were snapped up because they were going cheap.

Comments - Sure like this how is BN-UMNO going to survive as it is getting wacked day by day by the Rakyak for causing all the hardships for the common Rakyat