NO RUSH TO IMPLEMENT GST IN MALAYSIA

KUALA LUMPUR, July 5 (Bernama) -- Implementation of the goods and services
tax (GST) may not be as rushed as presumed by the people, Minister in the Prime
Minister's Department Idris Jala said Tuesday.

"Even if everyone agrees on the implementation of the GST, it would still
need at least 18 months for it to be fully enforced," said Idris, who is also
Performance Management and Delivery Unit (Pemandu) chief executive officer.

Although there are a lot of positive sides associated with the GST, he gave
an assurance that the current focus was to engage and educate the people.

"(But), We don't have a timeline for the implementation, we are in the
process of engaging with the public," he said, adding that 143 countries have
implemented the GST.

Idris said the GST will not impact the low-income earners as most of the
staple products like food, commodity items and services will be exempted or
zero-rated.

At the Economic Transformation Programme (ETP) seventh update today, Pemandu
unveiled six Strategic Reform Initiatives (SRIs) of which GST falls into the
Public Finance SRI.

Among other recommendations, Pemandu is suggesting to the government to
tighten its expenditure in four areas, namely rationalising subsidies,
procurements, travel expenses and transfer payments to statutory bodies.

In a bid to enhance transparency in the government procurement
process, Idris said the government has reduced the threshold value for
quotations and tenders via e-bidding from RM200,000 (US$66,666) to RM50,000
(US$16,666).

Accrual accounting will also be implemented to ensure a more efficient,
transparent and effective fiscal management, which in turn will support the
sustainability of the country's fiscal policies, he added.