According to Deputy Finance Minister II Yamani Hafez Musa, Malaysia must focus on improving its economic resilience by diversifying its economic resources and boosting its economic competitiveness and fiscal position.
He also stated that a stable financial sector is necessary to increase foreign investors’ trust in investing in the local market, which will benefit the country’s international reserves.
Ministry of Finance Tables Two Bills For First Reading
The Sales Tax (Amendment) Bill 2022 and the Service Tax (Amendment) Bill 2022 are the two bills.
When introducing the Bills, Deputy Finance Minister II Yamani Hafez Musa stated that the second and third readings would take place during the same session.
BNM’s International Reserves Are Regarded Sufficient As The Government Monitors The Ringgit’s Stability
According to Deputy Finance Minister II Yamani Hafez Musa, the level of international reserves held by Bank Negara Malaysia (BNM) at this time is regarded sufficient, and the government would review the situation on a regular basis in order to stabilise the ringgit in the future.
According to Yamani, BNM’s latest international reserves as of June 30 this year were sufficient to cover 5.8 months of goods and services imports and were 1.1 times the country’s entire short-term external debt.
BNM’s foreign reserves stood at US$112.8 billion at the end of May 2022, corresponding to RM474.2 billion, whereas the most recent figure of the central bank’s overseas reserves as of June 30 was US$109 billion, equivalent to RM480.1 billion.
MOTAC And Cabinet Review VOA For Tourists
To prevent international tourists from abusing the visa on arrival (VOA) facility, the Ministry of Tourism, Arts, and Culture (MOTAC) and the Cabinet will evaluate its implementation.
MOTAC has been supporting the facility, according to Deputy Minister Datuk Seri Dr Santhara Kumar, however, complications have arisen when international visitors who use the VOA do not return to their place of origin after entering the country.
“For example, once the facility was used by Indian tourists, we discovered foreigners distributed around Brickfields, some of whom were conducting business. We don’t want something like this to happen again “He was responding to a supplementary question from Datuk Mohammad Bakhtiar Wan Chik (PH-Balik Pulau), who had inquired about the VOA for foreigners during the question-and-answer session.
