Malaysia can be centre for refining of precious metals

I REFER to the report “‘Belt tightening’ for 2019” ( The Star, Sept 10) on Finance Minister Lim Guan Eng saying, rightly, that increasing the corporate tax at this moment is not appropriate.

But tightening the belt alone might not be sufficient because of the current national debt of RM1 trillion.

Has the Pakatan Harapan government considered the possibility of increasing revenue through the abolition of tax, in this case the 5% tax on the export of refined silver and platinum group metals?

The international rate charged in other countries for refining these precious metals is between 3% and 4%, which means it is not economically viable for overseas companies to do refining services in Malaysia. No wonder the London Bullion Market Association members are contracting their refining services to companies in Thailand, Indonesia, Singapore, Hong Kong and Dubai.

I understand that our taxation system is still not on par with these countries, hence attracting investment for precious metals recycling services from multinational corporations is beyond our current capabilities.

However, our local precious metals refiners are mature enough to compete in this international trade. They can import scrap, refine it for re-export and make sufficient profit to pay income tax. Currently, the government is not collecting any tax from this industry because it is not viable for local refiners to serve the international market.

I hope the International Trade and Industry Minister and Economics Affairs Minister will work together with the Finance Minister to ensure that the refining of precious metals for international customers will become a viable economic activity in Malaysia. LIM KIM CHUAN Masai, Johor