Guan Eng: I made a mistake, GST refund shortfall bigger than RM18b

PARLIAMENT | Finance Minister Lim Guan Eng today clarified that his ministry had made a mistake with the figures on the shortfall in the trust account for the Goods and Services Tax (GST) refunds which he claimed BN had considered as revenue and spent.

Addressing the Dewan Rakyat, Lim said the shortfall was actually higher than previously disclosed, amounting to RM19.248 billion instead of RM17.911 billion.

"I would like to apologise to the Dewan Rakyat speaker for this mistake. It is better for us to be transparent, honest and forward with the House than to hide this like the previous government would.

"The refund arrears was due to the cash flow problems faced by the (previous) federal government due to a lack of fiscal discipline, widespread wastage and ballooning debt.

"What was done by the previous government was a case of account falsification and misappropriation of the GST refunds for other purposes in order to cover the country's deficit and show a current account surplus," he said.

Lim explained that the mistake was due to a decimal error made by an official of his ministry.

Lim had previously revealed that RM19.397 billion in GST refunds had been paid back to businesses since 2015 but there was only RM1.486 billion in the GST refund trust account. This translated to a shortfall of RM17.911 billion.

However, Lim said that there was a decimal mistake in the amount left in the GST refund trust account and the actual amount was RM148.6 million. This meant the shortfall was higher, at RM19.248 billion. -Mkini