Malaysia: High Inflation rate?
I am not sure if Malaysians had ever noticed it... but anyways..
This afternoon, I took a drive to IOI Puchong Mall to meet up with Bell, a friend from my previous cell-group.
Anyways, whilst waiting for him, there I was in the Jusco electrical dept. store browsing through the items that were on show... the prices of 2 x AAA rechargeable batteries (Panasonic) was retailing for about RM38, and 4 x AAA batteries for about RM42.
Later, when Bell finally arrived, (he was half an hour late!!) we browsed through the computer mouse.. the latter told me that there was an IT dept. in another part of the shopping mall, so I decided to forgo shopping in Jusco and head up to that dept instead.
I finally decided on a RM39 mouse from Logitech (1000DPI) a RM39 cooling stand fan (for my laptop) and a set of rechargeable batteries (UNIROSS, some French brand) for RM25. Bell said he was familiar with that brand, and it was selling well in Europe, so it should be okay.
We had a discussion on finances...(what else??)..
The reason why I said that inflation rate in Malaysia is high based on my somewhat really superficial understanding of economics.. is because for the items that I bought, they somehow are quite costly for the normal income earner.
In Australia, the minimum wages per hour is about AUD8-10 (non taxed, I will say).. and the cost of the items are almost similar on a dollar-to-dollar basis. Of course, if I were to earn in Australian dollars, and spend in Australia that would be okay. I think the items are priced averagely fair. However, working in Malaysia, and spending in Malaysia is a different thing altogether...
The average minimum salary in KL is about RM900 per month? (RM1.5- RM2k maybe?). The same set of batteries that if I were to buy in Australia would cost about AUD20.00. I was expecting the batteries to be at least cheaper if not, not as much as RM40ish... It would be all right if I were earning in Australian dollars, and spending it in Australia, or Malaysia, but not if I were earning in Malaysia, and spending in Malaysia...
Bell was telling me that a frappucinno (which is basically Ice-Blended Coffee) at Starbucks is retailing for about RM15.00. (Starbucks is more popular in Malaysia than Gloria Jeans) Which is ridiculously OVERPRICED in Malaysia! ... (and I am not going to pay RM15 for a Frappuccinno any time soon, thank you very much!
In Malaysia, the only things which is cheap is eating out at the mamak stall, typical chinese hawkers stalls, at the night market, (RM3-4 for a bowl of noodles, or mixed rice with some side dishes) and possibly the salary. Income tax is low... of course, but medical is not free (unless you went to a public health service centre).
I got get my current prepaid Samsung LG760 for about AUD190 (network locked). I don't think I could get a phone as good as that for even RM200! Of course, if I were to convert AUD190 and get about RM600, I might get a good "ripped off from the factory" phone like what one of my next-of-kin in the other family has
which has W-Lan capabilities since that is all the rage in KL now...(my dad has one, my two cousins have one)... come to think of it, I haven't seen anyone I know own an Apple iPhone recently.... hmmmm...
Why do all these retailers always trying to make such so much profit... and all the employers try to squeeze so much from their employees with the least amount of wages ever....
The salary in Malaysia is not going up by much, but the cost of living IS!! ... which is quite unbalanced....
SIGH....
This afternoon, I took a drive to IOI Puchong Mall to meet up with Bell, a friend from my previous cell-group.
Anyways, whilst waiting for him, there I was in the Jusco electrical dept. store browsing through the items that were on show... the prices of 2 x AAA rechargeable batteries (Panasonic) was retailing for about RM38, and 4 x AAA batteries for about RM42.
Later, when Bell finally arrived, (he was half an hour late!!) we browsed through the computer mouse.. the latter told me that there was an IT dept. in another part of the shopping mall, so I decided to forgo shopping in Jusco and head up to that dept instead.
I finally decided on a RM39 mouse from Logitech (1000DPI) a RM39 cooling stand fan (for my laptop) and a set of rechargeable batteries (UNIROSS, some French brand) for RM25. Bell said he was familiar with that brand, and it was selling well in Europe, so it should be okay.
We had a discussion on finances...(what else??)..
The reason why I said that inflation rate in Malaysia is high based on my somewhat really superficial understanding of economics.. is because for the items that I bought, they somehow are quite costly for the normal income earner.
In Australia, the minimum wages per hour is about AUD8-10 (non taxed, I will say).. and the cost of the items are almost similar on a dollar-to-dollar basis. Of course, if I were to earn in Australian dollars, and spend in Australia that would be okay. I think the items are priced averagely fair. However, working in Malaysia, and spending in Malaysia is a different thing altogether...
The average minimum salary in KL is about RM900 per month? (RM1.5- RM2k maybe?). The same set of batteries that if I were to buy in Australia would cost about AUD20.00. I was expecting the batteries to be at least cheaper if not, not as much as RM40ish... It would be all right if I were earning in Australian dollars, and spending it in Australia, or Malaysia, but not if I were earning in Malaysia, and spending in Malaysia...
Bell was telling me that a frappucinno (which is basically Ice-Blended Coffee) at Starbucks is retailing for about RM15.00. (Starbucks is more popular in Malaysia than Gloria Jeans) Which is ridiculously OVERPRICED in Malaysia! ... (and I am not going to pay RM15 for a Frappuccinno any time soon, thank you very much!
In Malaysia, the only things which is cheap is eating out at the mamak stall, typical chinese hawkers stalls, at the night market, (RM3-4 for a bowl of noodles, or mixed rice with some side dishes) and possibly the salary. Income tax is low... of course, but medical is not free (unless you went to a public health service centre).
I got get my current prepaid Samsung LG760 for about AUD190 (network locked). I don't think I could get a phone as good as that for even RM200! Of course, if I were to convert AUD190 and get about RM600, I might get a good "ripped off from the factory" phone like what one of my next-of-kin in the other family has
which has W-Lan capabilities since that is all the rage in KL now...(my dad has one, my two cousins have one)... come to think of it, I haven't seen anyone I know own an Apple iPhone recently.... hmmmm...
Why do all these retailers always trying to make such so much profit... and all the employers try to squeeze so much from their employees with the least amount of wages ever....
The salary in Malaysia is not going up by much, but the cost of living IS!! ... which is quite unbalanced....
SIGH....
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