Guan Eng: Scrapping GST will create RM21 bil hole in budget

The finance minister says the government will depend on increased oil-related revenues and spending cuts.

KUALA LUMPUR: Finance Minister Lim Guan Eng has said that the withdrawal of the goods and services tax (GST) will create a RM21 billion hole in the budget, which will be mostly plugged by increased oil-related revenues and spending cuts on projects.

Lim said the scrapping of the tax on June 1 can be offset by RM5.4 billion of oil-related revenues and cuts on non-essential projects amounting to RM10 billion.

He said a new sales tax would likely be introduced on Sept 1, and that the government would meet its projected budget deficit of 2.8% for 2018. FMT