Government to lose RM800 million if prepaid cards are GST-exempted - Shabery

This is because most of the users of these pre-paid reload cards are foreign workers in the country, he told Utusan Malaysia.

“Two thirds of the pre-paid users in the country are foreign workers from Myanmar, Indonesia and Bangladesh,” he was quoted by the Malay daily.

“If you ask me, I don’t want our money being used to subsidise their per-paid cards,” he said.

Commenting on the Customs Department’s call for the prepaid cards to be exempted from GST, Ahmad Shabery admitted that from technical point, it is difficult to recall all the cards and reprint them in two days.

Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib Tun Razak, in a recent Twitter post, stated that only Ahmad Shabery is mandated to take charge of prepaid cards issues.

Deputy Finance Minister Datuk Ahmad Maslan on Friday had advised Malaysian telecommunication companies (telcos) to reinstate the phone top-up prices to the initial rates prior to the implementation of the Goods and Services Tax (GST) on April 1.

Ahmad Maslan had also urged telcos following the decision that was made in the cabinet meeting on April 3.

He said there should not be any price hike since the six per cent GST was introduced to replace the six per cent sales and services tax (SST).