PETALING JAYA: Stop egg export and distribute cash subsidies to poultry farmers, Mydin Mohamed Holdings Bhd managing director Datuk Dr. Ameer Ali Mydin suggested.

These are some of the proposals he made to the Minister of Domestic Trade and Cost of Living Datuk Seri Salahuddin Ayub during their one-hour meeting.

“I told the minister not to import chicken eggs to solve the shortage problem, as Malaysian eggs are among the world’s cheapest.

“The most important thing is to stop egg export and be fair to everyone,” he said.

Dr. Ameer also said the government could increase subsidy to poultry farmers or abolish the ceiling price set for eggs.

“When the market is short of eggs, people will resort to buying omega eggs. Prices of eggs and food will all rise,” he said.

Despite increasing cooking oil subsidies from RM1.8 billion to RM4 billion, the market is still short of cooking oil, said Dr. Ameer.

He proposed to include the subsidy into the 1Malaysia cash aid to the B40 group.

Whether one is using the coupon system or app, Dr. Ameer said the subsidy should be given to the targeted group.

As for using the app to deliver cash aid, the government would have to spend money on app development and maintenance, he said.

The subsidy should be given to people who qualify, he said.

Salahuddin shared the meeting with Dr. Ameer on Facebook. Also present was Siti Mariah Mahmud, the Selangor executive councilor for health, women and family empowerment.