KUALA LUMPUR (March 21): Finance Minister Lim Guan Eng clarified today that the government has no intention to impose windfall taxes on banks in Malaysia, hence, these financial institutions can be more flexible in their lending arrangements.
Lim, who was speaking at a press conference in Parliament today, was clarifying his remarks on Tuesday (March 19) at the Invest Malaysia Kuala Lumpur 2019 event where reporters quoted him as telling banks to "be flexible, unless you prefer windfall tax".
On Tuesday, Lim was quoted as saying in his keynote address: "We want to ask the banks to be more flexible in their lending arrangement, because we got many complaints (about it). So, I think it's time for you to start lending or unless you prefer windfall taxes."
Today, Lim told the media to look at the context when he was making the remark.
"If you look at the context of what I said, there is no intention, just that since we don't impose windfall taxes, we hope they can be more flexible in their lending arrangements since they are making so much money, share a bit," he said.
http://www.theedgemarkets.com/article/guan-eng-clarifies-bank-windfall-tax-remark
