Assoc Prof Jamus Jerome Lim (Sengkang): I thank the Senior Minister of State for his answer. As he is well aware, these price increases occur in a general environment where both prices in general are rising because of inflation but also potentially because of GST. Is there a specific formula or a model that the Ministry applies or that the Committee applies to try to distinguish between how much of the increase is due to potentially profiteering from the increase or from price rises more generally?
Mr Alvin Tan: I thank the Member for his question. I will give a bit of a context as well the few ways in which we are handling inflation – and we have discussed this and debated this in the House multiple times – one, is monetary policy, which helps to dampen imported inflation; and the second is, as I have mentioned earlier, our fiscal policies.
I will also share that during the first GST increase to 8% that we saw earlier this year, the CAP also saw an increase in feedback volume received on this. So, we will monitor that very carefully and one of the key measures is also to get feedback from the ground and then we will take the appropriate measures.
Ministry of Trade and Industry
3 October 2023
https://sprs.parl.gov.sg/search/#/sprs3topic?reportid=oral-answer-3343
Office of the Leader of the Opposition 