Presenting its economic survey on Malaysia today, OECD secretary-general Mathias Cormann said this was based on the assumption that the country’s vaccine rollout would continue at the same pace and that there would be no new Covid-19 variants resistant to the vaccine.

“It’s going to be important to have the best possible health situation, the right political environment and the right stability. Assuming that all of these things are well managed, then there is a bright future,” he said.

He added that the economy was also projected to return to growth due to strong sales in electronic goods and health gears, thereby boosting exports.

For stronger, sustainable growth post-pandemic, OECD proposed Malaysia to enhance its  efforts to strengthen competitiveness, digital transformation and climate change mitigation.

It suggested that the country should include workers in unregulated markets, such as gig workers, in the retirement scheme under the Employees Provident Fund (EPF).

It also recommended greater social protection for women and foreign workers, as well as reintroducing the goods and services tax (GST) as part of Malaysia’s medium-term fiscal strategy.

Economics minister Mustapa Mohamed, who was present at the event, said the government had been looking into tax reform, including bringing back GST, amending corporate tax rates and improving its tax collection mechanism.

“It was important to ensure a diversified tax base to finance development, promote competition and efficiency as well as encourage both domestic and foreign investments.

“At an appropriate time, some of these proposals will have to be implemented,” he said.

Mustapa added that a number of these reform measures will be introduced when the 12th Malaysia Plan is tabled in Parliament next month.

He said the government would put the people first, and once the public health crisis settles down, Malaysia must begin to set the economy back on a sustainable fiscal footing.