Japanese firms back Malaysia’s decision to scrap consumption tax
Japanese companies have warmly applauded Malaysia's move to abolish an unpopular goods and services tax (GST) as a step to spur consumer demand in the Southeast Asian country.
Hanoi (VNA) - Japanese companies have warmly applaudedMalaysia's move to abolish an unpopular goods and services tax (GST) as a step to spur consumer demand in theSoutheast Asian country.
Malaysia’s Ministry of Finance announced on May 16 that Malaysia will cut theGST rate from the current 6 percent to zero on June 1.
All registered businesses in Malaysia “need to comply with the zero rate",the ministry said in a statement.
Panasonic Malaysia Sdn. Bhd., a sales subsidiary of Japan'smajor electronics company Panasonic Corp., is reacting positively to theannouncement.
Mazlee Mokhtar, senior executive of the firm, said the GSTabolition and other market stimulus measures by the new government will createpositive sentiments in consumer demand in Malaysia in the future.
He said Malaysian consumers expect prices to drop after the GSTis abolished, but he also indicated that price fluctuations of goods are causednot only by the tax rate but also other factors such as the foreign exchangerate.
Meanwhile, Edaran Tan Chong Motor Sdn. Bhd., the soledistributor and assembler of Nissan Motor Co. vehicles in Malaysia, isconsidering a refund if prices of a wide range of goods decline after the GSTis officially scrapped.
The Ministry of Finance's announcement came a week after an alliance ofopposition parties, led by former Prime Minister Mahathir Mohamad, wasvictorious in the nation's general election, subsequently restoring him to thepremiership. Mahathir had pledged during the election campaign to eliminatethe tax introduced in 2015 by then Prime Minister Najib Abdul Razak.
In January 2018, Najib said GST contributed over 44 billion ringgit (about 10.5billion USD) to the country’s budget in 2017.-VNA
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The tax adjustment supports the Malaysian Government’s strategy to reduce reliance on foreign food supply chains and to assist domestic farmers, a finance official has said.
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(Source: Malaysia's Ministry of Finance) 
