Sunday, July 06, 2008

Stagflation

Zeti's report on CPI inflation at 3.81% are bollocks. First of all, you have a direct 40% hike on petrol and 60% on diesel. The food prices in hawkers and food court nearby the area where I work at has gone up by 12% to 16%. In July, we will see 20% increase in electricity charges. Credit card companies will impose interest charges on future purchases should you not clear your outstanding balances every month. How many people on the street can't do that? Apparently the figure is 1.8 million. That is nearly one fifth of our working population. We see news about price increases everyday in newspaper. Tiles, steel, stationeries, rice, pork, and many more to make the list. And another startling news which is if poverty level is at RM 1500 and in my opinion this is a fair figure, it affects a quarter of the households. In most corporations, the annual increments is less than 10%. Which means, wage earners are getting poorer by the day.

I've noticed a drastic drop in the traffic on the road. I myself think twice now whenever the need to travel occurs, especially for leisure purposes. Silly trips like going to Klang just for seafood dinner is automatically crossed out.

The stock market is in shambles. I have, currently on paper loss close to RM 8000. FD rates at 3+% eventhough losing out hugely due to inflation looks so much better now. An impending BLR hike will surely accelerate this doldrum. This is the new reality. Stagflation is here to stay.