Malaysian Prime Minister Ismail Sabri Yaakob has downplayed calls for an early election, citing a rise in food prices and other living costs, the Nihon Keizai Shimbun reported yesterday.
An election is not due until 2023, but Ismail Sabri has been facing pressure from some in his party, the United Malays National Organisation (UMNO), to call an early vote to capitalize on UMNO’s resurgent popularity in recent local polls.
Ismail Sabri told the newspaper in an interview that he would wait for “the right time” to call an election, given inflationary pressures partly stemming from the Russian invasion of Ukraine.
Reuters
“We are now facing a period of increasing inflation with high prices ... do you think this is the right time?” Ismail Sabri was quoted as saying.
The Central Bank of Malaysia expects headline inflation to average between 2.2 and 3.2 percent this year, with food costs having increased 4.1 percent in April.
Last month, the central bank unexpectedly raised its key interest rate to cool inflationary pressures.
The government has introduced price control measures, but the cost of subsidies has weighed on its coffers.
Ismail Sabri told the newspaper that the government was keen on re-introducing a goods and services tax (GST).
A previous UMNO government introduced the GST in 2015, but it was scrapped three years later by the administration of then-Malaysian prime minister Mahathir Mohamad after people blamed the 6 percent consumption tax for rising costs.
Ismail Sabri said that the government was aware of the GST’s unpopularity, but it had limited options.
The government lost about 20 billion ringgit (US$4.57 billion) in annual revenue after the tax was abolished, he said.
The government would target a GST rate that did not burden people, but was not so low that it “defeats the purpose of expanding tax revenue,” he told the newspaper.
Malaysia is expected to spend 28 billion ringgit on fuel subsidies alone in this year, more than double the 11 billion ringgit spent last year, in addition to subsidies for cooking oil, sugar and flour.
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