Taking to Facebook, the former prime minister cited examples of countries that raised their consumption tax rates during the health crisis.

He pointed to how Singapore, Indonesia, Bahrain and Saudi Arabia raised their GST or value added tax (VAT) rates, saying it had helped their governments to provide greater financial assistance to the people.

Watch the video here.

“The pandemic affected the various economic sectors differently, with some showing better growth than others.

“Hence, the money collected following the increase in GST for sectors that are performing better could then be distributed directly to the public who are struggling the most,” he said.

Najib said that at the individual level, those whose incomes were not negatively impacted by the pandemic were also spending more, so they would be paying more tax based on the GST imposed.

According to him, the export, agriculture and healthcare product sectors had benefited from the health crisis and shown greater growth compared with pre-pandemic times, and those working within these sectors could afford an increase in the GST.

There had been calls from certain economists and politicians to reintroduce the GST amid concerns that Malaysia’s debt-to-GDP ratio would increase, with no stable inflows and high outflows of government expenditure.

However, finance minister Tengku Zafrul Aziz said last year that Putrajaya would not introduce any new tax schemes for now despite seeking ways to broaden its revenue post-pandemic.

A 6% GST had been introduced in 2015 – when Najib was prime minister – but was abolished by the former Pakatan Harapan government and replaced with the current sales and services tax (SST) system in 2018.

Previously, Najib said there was a need to reintroduce the tax but only after the country recovers from the impact of Covid-19.