Woon King Chai, Director of INSAP
As Malaysia prepares to roll out a sweeping expansion of the Sales and Services Tax (SST) on 1 July 2025, policymakers must confront an uncomfortable question: Are we compromising national food security in pursuit of short-term revenue gains?
The Ministry of Finance argues that the expanded SST, which broadens the tax base and updates taxable goods and services, is necessary to strengthen the government’s fiscal position. But in doing so, it risks overlooking deeper vulnerabilities in our economic structure, especially in the realm of food imports and household food access.
For a country that imported over RM75.6 billion in food in 2022, according to Department of Statistics Malaysia (DOSM), this new tax regime could be a costly misstep.