GST Implementation Expected To Contribute 0.3 Per Cent To Economic Growth: Minister

KUALA LUMPUR, July 10 (Bernama) -- The implementation of the Goods and Services Tax (GST) on April 1 next year is expected to contribute 0.3 per cent to Malaysia's economic growth with exports expanding 0.5 per cent from the second quarter. Deputy Finance Minister Ahmad Maslan said the country's export products will also be more competitive, as the Sales and Services Tax (SST) at present on average at about 10 per cent, will be abolished. "As such, the whole export sector will potentially expand 0.5 per cent and lace the economy at a higher level," he told a GST dialogue here Wednesday. He also said most of Malaysia's products exported at present are 10 per cent more expensive compared to the 160 countries which have implemented the GST. Meanwhile, Ahmad said the Malaysian government has created the Price Control and Profiteering Act to avoid economic sabotage when the GST is implemented next year to control any rise in prices. "We hope however, that such a thing will not happen," he added. He said the government has yet to make any decision on whether to be lenient with companies that fail to register for the GST in the first year of its implementation, as proposed by some parliamentarians recently. --BERNAMA