Chicken on credit? Malaysians warned over debt trap as deferred payment craze widens
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The central bank last week revealed that 3.7 million Buy Now, Pay Later (BNPL) users were from Malaysia's lowest-income earners, who took home less than 5,000 ringgit (US$1,130) a month and struggled to get by on low wages.
That is more than 20 per cent of Malaysia's total working population of 17.3 million people, raising concerns over the potential for a debt trap to capture millions of Malaysians whose debts slowly mount with interest payments adding to the delayed burden.
Credit lines for basics come as food prices rose 2.5 per cent in February, according to government data.
'It has gone to the extent that people can buy chicken on credit. It speaks volumes of the situation if we have to rely on BNPL to buy chicken,' said Indrani Thuraisingham, vice-president and legal adviser of the Federation of Malaysian Consumer Associations (Fomca).
KFC in Malaysia has removed promotional posts allowing its customers to buy its fried chicken on up to three months' credit. Photo: SOPA Images/LightRocket via Getty Images
Last week, Malaysia's franchise of US fast food chain KFC said it would allow customers to buy its fried chicken on up to three months' credit.
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