Najib Says New BNM Governor Told Him That GST 'A Bold Move By The Government'
Najib spoke to Ibrahim during the latter’s visit to the Prime Minister’s office.
By Sadho Ram — 10 May 2016, 06:33 PM
"Malaysia's economy could have ended up like that of Greece"
PM Najib Razak recently revealed that the introduction of the GST and subsidy rationalisation are viewed by the new Bank NegaraGovernor, Muhammad Ibrahim, as a bold move taken by the government to face the global economic uncertainty.
He said this during his monthly address to the staff of the Prime Minister's Department, adding that had the BN Government not introduced the GST and subsidy rationalisation policy, "the national economy could have ended up like that of Greece."
He also claimed that if RM40 billion was removed from the national revenue annually, it would have serious implications for the country
"So, the GST introduction, although resulting in a small increase in the prices of goods, essentially strengthened and enlarged the revenue base for the government and the country," he said, adding that the introduction of the 1Malaysia People's Aid (BR1M) and flexibility in taxation, including ‘zero-rated’ items under the GST, shielded the people from the impact of implementation of the new tax regime.
However, the issue was never whether GST is good or bad, was it?
The issue was and should always be that the need for the implementation of GST would not have been necessary to 'save' the country if there had been no failed projects like 1MDB, which ran into billions of debt, and corruption in the government.
As this Malaysiakini piece highlights, the 6% GST might not even have been necessary if the country's resources were properly managed, with less abuse of power and corruption by the top political leaders, resulting in mismanagement of billions of ringgit.