Be prudent, Ahmad Maslan tells Malaysians

Deputy Finance Minister Datuk Ahmad Maslan says prudent spending by consumers could put pressure on traders to lower the prices of goods. – The Malaysian Insider file pic, June 9, 2015.

Prudent spending by consumers could put pressure on traders to lower the prices of goods following the implementation of the goods and services tax (GST), said Deputy Finance Minister Datuk Ahmad Maslan.

"When they are unsure of prices of the goods, they (consumers) can postpone purchasing and when there are fewer purchases in the market, this can force traders to bring down prices," he said.

Ahmad said the price of goods would be stable again when traders with  business worth over RM5 million could obtain input from the claims, which would help reduce costs.

Speaking at a news conference after opening the MyGov-Tech seminar on “Enhancing Efficiency Through ICT Innovation" in Putrajaya today, he said enforcement action had been increasingly effective against unscrupulous traders who took advantage of the GST, thus contributing to price instability.

He said enforcement by the Domestic Trade, Cooperatives and Consumerism Ministry and the Customs Department had made traders more ethical, such as removing the sales and services tax (SST) before imposing GST on their goods.

Ahmad said the running out of stocks of goods bought by traders before the implementation of GST would also contribute to price stability as the new prices of goods bought from the factories no longer had SST.

"During the early period of implementation of GST, many traders had added the SST to the GST but this is not allowed once the old stocks bought before the GST implementation are sold out," he said.

The GST at 6% was implemented from April 1, this year.

On the signing of the Master Licensing Agreement 2.0 (MLA 2.0) between the Finance Ministry and Prestariang System Sdn Bhd today, Ahmad said the three-year agreement aimed at modernising the infrastructure, hardware and software of information communication technology (ICT) involving 24 ministries, 74 agencies and six local authorities. – Bernama