Petaling Jaya: The National Chamber of Commerce and Industry of Malaysia (NCCIM) expects the government to re-implement the Goods and Services Tax (GST) at a rate of 4%.
NCCIM chairman Tan Sri Soe Thian Lai said the government also needs to find additional financial resources to increase revenue.
“Currently, the government relies on additional taxes such as low-value excise duty and high-value excise duty. It puts tremendous pressure on our business community,” he told reporters at the National Economic Forum 2024 today. told.
He said the government needs to be consistent and have a clear policy in implementing GST.
“If a government has been suffering from cash shortage syndrome for many years, the way to increase revenue is to increase exports and generate more revenue and taxes. One of them is,” he said.
Soh said NCCIM believes GST is a better tax system. “We have tried to make a proposal to the government several times and we hope it will be considered,” he said.
Commenting on Malaysia’s economic outlook for 2024, he said export-driven recovery will continue to drive growth, with increased investment and a recovery in the tourism sector.
“The development of the tourism sector increased by 3.9% in the first quarter of this year and recovered by 0.9% in the last quarter of last year,” he added.
However, Mr Soh said customers’ spending could be constrained by a weaker ringgit, higher sales and service taxes, rationalization of government subsidies and cost of living pressures and inflation.