Budget 2023: GST not part of this year's plans, says Finance Minister

KUALA LUMPUR: The possibility of reviving the Goods and Services Tax (GST) will only be discussed next year, says Tengku Datuk Seri Zafrul Tengku Abdul Aziz.

"We will be discussing that (GST) in Cabinet depending on the economy next year or so.

"For this year, we were not discussing this in the budget," the Finance Minister told a press conference in Parliament after tabling Budget 2023 in Dewan Rakyat on Friday (Oct 7).

Tengku Zafrul was asked if the GST would be re-introduced in light of a decrease in government revenue next year.

The GST came into effect on April 1, 2015 to replace the Sales and Services Tax (SST) but was abolished by the Pakatan Harapan administration in August 2018.

Asked on whether the budget would be able to weather the country through a sluggish global economy, Tengku Zafrul said there would be some impact.

As such, he noted that the budget was geared toward ensuring Gross Domestic Product (GDP) growth.

"We forecast that our GDP growth will remain positive between 2% and 3%.

"Malaysia also would be somewhat affected a bit as this year, we forecast growth of between 6.5% and 7%.

"We should be doing between 4% and 5% for next year," he said.

He said the Malaysian economy is expected to experience moderate growth in light of the global economic climate.