Malaysia's Anwar relents, exempts imported apples and oranges from fresh tax after backlash
sales and services tax (SST), responding to public concerns, Malaysian Prime Minister Anwar Ibrahim announced on Thursday.
He stated that while it is preferable to consume local fruits such as papayas and bananas, the cabinet decided on Wednesday to exempt these popular fruits.
Anwar conveyed this decision to the media after launching the Kota Madani project in Putrajaya's Precinct 19 on Thursday.
'There will not be exemptions for other imported fruits as we have many local fruits to choose from. However, we compromise with apples and oranges as there have been many requests from the public.'
'The sales value threshold will now be increased from half a million to 1 million ringgit (US$236,634). There will be further announcements and clarification on this,' Anwar added.
In his speech earlier, he advised that it is better to eat a local banana a day rather than apples.
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