2018 govt revenue drops to RM21 bln with SST – Lim

KUALA LUMPUR: The Finance Ministry says the government revenue for 2018 will decline to RM21 billion after the reinstatement of the Sales and Services Tax (SST) on Sept 1, 2018 to replace the Goods and Services Tax (GST).

Minister Lim Guan Eng said the revenue from the SST for the period from September to December this year is estimated at RM4 billion.

“The net impact, therefore, is RM17 billion for 2018,” he said at the Dewan Rakyat here yesterday.

Lim was replying to Datuk Seri Ismail Sabri Yaakob (BN-Bera), who wanted to know the reduction in revenue after the government abolished the GST as well as the government’s measures to cover the revenue shortfall.

Lim said the GST revenue shortfall will be partly made up by the higher petroleum revenue estimated at RM5.4 billion following the rise in Brent crude prices to US$70 per barrel compared to the average oil price assumption of US$52 per barrel for Budget 2018.

He said in addition, the dividend from governmentlinked companies (GLCs) including Petronas and Khazanah Nasional Bhd had risen to RM5 billion.

“This additional dividend is one-off, in line with the rise in global crude oil prices in 2018 compared to the average oil price assumption for Budget 2018,” he said.

Despite global crude oil prices hovering at around US$70 per barrel, Lim said petroleumrelated revenue contributed only around 3.3 per cent to gross domestic product compared to 9.2 per cent in 2009, when global crude oil was at US$62 per barrel.

“This shows that the government has reduced the dependence on petroleum-related revenue,” he said.