KUALA LUMPUR (THE STAR/ASIA NEWS NETWORK) - Malaysia has no intention at the moment to re-introduce the goods and services tax (GST) as a means of supporting the government's coffers, said Deputy Finance Minister II Mohd Shahar Abdullah.

"On whether we will reintroduce the GST, the Ministry of Finance is focusing on three things; to take care of the health of the people, to ensure economic recovery and resilience.

"Reintroducing the GST is not among the latest options as we are looking at all options available," he said to a question by opposition Member of Parliament Mohamad Sabu in Parliament on Monday (Dec 7).

Mr Mohd Shahar wanted to know if the GST would be reintroduced in light of the government's effort to increase the country's revenues amidst the current economic climate.

He said the government is focusing on improving governance and has set up a multi-agency task force to better manage its finances while plugging leakages.

"The Finance Minister is also committed to moving forward and is drafting a framework on how to increase government's revenue swhich includes improving governance by introducing a Fiscal Responsibility Act," he added.

The 6 per cent GST was implemented on April 1, 2015, but was abolished by the previous Pakatan Harapan (PH) administration in 2018.

PH rolled out the sales and service tax (SST) on Sept 1 of the same year.

On Fitch's recent downgrade of Malaysia's sovereign rating from A- to BBB+, Mr Mohd Shahar said it was not a crisis as the downgrade was not due to internal factors or economic fundamentals.

He noted that the rating did not take into account recent improvements in the nation's economic performance and that country's ranking as one of the most competitive in the region for doing business.

On the nation's statutory debt, Mr Mohd Shahar said the current debt stood at 56.6 per cent of the gross domestic product (GDP), which is still below the 60 per cent statutory threshold.

The former threshold was 55 per cent of the GDP but was revised and increased to 60 per cent following the passing of the Temporary Measures For Government Financing (Coronavirus Disease 2019 (Covid-19)) Bill 2020 in August this year amidst the Covid-19 pandemic.

Mr Mohd Shahar said the total government debts and liabilities was RM1.257 trillion (S$412 billion) as of September this year with the government committed to repaying the loans on schedule.