PROFITEERING

Mr Gan Kim Yong asked the Deputy Prime Minister and Minister for Finance whether there have been significant incidents of profiteering arising from the revision of the Goods and Services Tax (GST) to 4% from 1st January 2003 and if so, what actions have been taken so far in dealing with these incidents.

The Minister of State, Prime Minister's Office (Mr Chan Soo Sen) (for the Deputy Prime Minister and Minister for Finance): Sir, there appears to have been no significant incidents of profiteering so far. Anyway, conditions for profiteering are not present. There is no shortage of goods in the market. Retailers are trying their best to retain customers through competitive pricing. Consumers have many choices and can turn from one retailer to another. We have investigated a few items which have increased in price and we found that the increases cannot be attributed solely to the increase in GST.

The Committee Against Profiteering, which I am chairing, was set up to deal with profiteering and unjustified price increases. From 1st December 2002 to 20th January 2003, the Committee received a total of 47 reports. The majority related to price increases of food items as well as cooked food items.

Of these, 29 were found not to be due to profiteering on account of GST increases. Replies have been given to these respondents. Nine have been forwarded to the respective Constituency Committee Against Profiteering for further investigation, and the investigation is still in progress. Four have been forwarded to the Consumers Association of Singapore (CASE) for review. The Committee Against Profiteering is currently looking into the remaining five unresolved reports.

If consumers come across any instances of businesses trying to profiteer from the GST increase, they should provide feedback to the Committee by filling in the forms which are available in all community centres, community clubs as well as our website.