PUTRAJAYA: Finance Minister Lim Guan Eng today underlined the Pakatan Harapan government’s commitment to deliver its key manifesto goals and promises to ease the burden of the rakyat.
This, he said, would be done through three measures amounting to RM20.7 billion. These measures, he said, would provide a significant boost to consumer spending in Malaysia and lead to “improved consumer optimism and business profits.”
"First the zero-rating (of the Goods and Services Tax) on June 1 and re-introducing the Sales and Services Tax (SST) on Sept 1. This will 'return' approximately RM17 billion to ordinary Malaysians for the rest of the year.
"Second, the stabilisation of the price of RON95 at RM2.20 per litre and diesel at RM2.18 per litre. This will save Malaysians RM3 billion.
"Third, a RM700 million Hari Raya special assistance to civil servants (Grade 41 and below) and pensioners," he said.
Lim said 1.2 out of 1.6 million civil servants would enjoy the Hari Raya special assistance.
Report by Azura Abas, Manirajan Ramasamy, Irwan Shafrizan Ismail, Luqman Arif Abdul Karim, Mohd Husni Mohd Noor, Hazwan Faisal Mohamad and Farah Adilla