KUALA LUMPUR: There will be no new tax measures in the upcoming 2020 Budget, said Finance Minister, Lim Guan Eng.
“Unlikely any new tax measures shall be implemented (in the 2020 Budget), we will want to implement it early (of the year) not in the middle (of the year),” Lim told
reporters, here yesterday.
He said this after officiating the National Tax Conference 2019 (NTC 2019), which was jointly organised by the Inland Revenue Board and Chartered Tax Institute of Malaysia with the theme ‘Economic Prosperity and Taxation’, here yesterday.
The 2020 Budget is scheduled to be tabled in Parliament on Oct 11 this year
On China’s move to let the yuan tumbled against the US dollar in the wake of its trade dispute with
the US, Lim said this would somehow affect Malaysia.
“Definitely, there will be some impact, because you cannot deny (that) the action of one of our main trading partners would also have some spillover effects on Malaysia whether it’s the US or
China. And China is our largest
trading partner.
“This is where in the budget we are going to have contingency measures in the event that the trade dispute escalates or worsens. Definitely, there would be (a) contingency package to try to as much as possible insulate Malaysia from any adverse impact from this trade dispute,” he said.
However, there was another line of thought that this dispute could be resolved by year-end, he said, adding that, “We should opt for a wait-and-see approach.”
Earlier in his speech, Lim said the country’s economic growth was performing well on target, based on the current economic performance.
Lim reiterated the Malaysian economy is showing signs of resilience amid difficult external challenges arising from the US-China trade dispute with the World Bank projecting the country’s gross domestic product to record 4.6 per cent this year. – Bernama
