MELAKA – The imposition of a transaction fee for payments made via DuitNow QR will be discussed in a special meeting of the National Action Council on Cost of Living (Naccol) this Tuesday, said Senator Fuziah Salleh.
The deputy domestic trade and cost of living minister said the meeting, which would be chaired by Prime Minister Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim, would be attended by representatives of Bank Negara Malaysia (BNM), as the regulator of the country’s banking sector.
“Some 1.874 million people use the DuitNow QR platform (for cashless transactions). If nearly 1.9 million people use DuitNow, how much money does the bank make?
“We (the ministry) are afraid that users will be affected,” she told reporters after officiating the Melaka-level Rahmah Sales programme here today.
Also present were State Entrepreneur, Cooperative Development and Consumer Affairs Committee chairman Allex Seah Shoo Chin and Melaka Domestic Trade and Living Costs Ministry director Norena Jaafar.
Fuziah also expressed concern that the imposition of the transaction fee would impede the implementation of the country’s digitalisation programmes as outlined under the 12th Malaysia Plan.
She said that the ministry had previously implemented the Retail Sector Digitalisation Initiative (ReDI) programme to help small entrepreneurs, especially in making digital payment methods more accessible to consumers.
“We are worried that the transaction fee will have a negative impact on these (micro and small) traders and consumers,” she said.
Meanwhile, Fuziah said that the public can get supplies of local rice at the Agro Madani sales programme and subsidised imported rice through the Rahmah sales programme.
She said that information about the locations of the sales programmes can be obtained on the ministry and the Federal Agricultural Marketing Authority websites. – September 30, 2023