Minister says GST needed to cover growing civil
service salaries, pensions – Bernama
The Federal government needs diversified financial
resources, including implementing the goods and services
tax (GST) to ensure continuous development of the
country, said Minister of International Trade and
Industry, Datuk Seri Mustapa Mohamed.
He said new
financial resources were also needed as the government
has to pay for civil servants' salaries and pensions to
an increasing number of retirees.
"As for now,
our financial resources rely heavily on oil and gas, but
we can't continuously depend on this sector, that's why
we need the GST as a new source of finance," he told
reporters after opening a forum titled "Kelantan's
Development Direction in the 11th Malaysia Plan (11MP)"
in Kota Baru, today.
He said some might oppose the government's initiative to
introduce the GST but they should use the proper
channels and not do anything to disrespect the
authorities, such as the police or Customs Department. |
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"The decision (to implement the GST) was not made in a
rush, we did the research for over a decade. If the GST
is not implemented, how will we pay government staff
salaries or pay the pensioners, and how will we develop
the rural areas," he said.
Mustapa, who is also the Kelantan Federal Development
Action Council chairman, said he hoped that the Federal
government will allocate a bigger budget to further
develop states lagging behind in terms of development,
like Kelantan, in the 11MP.
"We hope that the
financial resources are distributed according to the
level of achievement in terms of economic growth and
poverty rates. We are aware of the fact that Kelantan is
under the opposition (PAS), but this does not mean that
the rights of the people should be deprived," he said.
Meanwhile, when officiating the Parent-Teacher
Association (PTA) annual general meeting at Sekolah
Menengah Kebangsaan (SMK) Badak in Bachok, Mustapa urged
the state government to enhance its cooperation with the
federal government especially in economic development.
He said the cooperation given by the state government to
the federal government in handling the flood last
December and post-flood recovery was excellent.
Hence, he said he hoped the state government could give
similar cooperation in developing the economic sectors
in the state. – Bernama, March 28, 2015.
Source:
The Malaysian Insider
, dated
28/03/2015 |
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