Govt will not abolish palm oil industry's windfall profit levy - Finance Ministry

KUALA LUMPUR - The government does not intend to abolish the windfall profit levy (WPL) on the palm oil industry at the moment, said the Finance Ministry (MoF).

However, the ministry said the government is always open to studying the method of imposing this levy, including the levy rate and profit threshold level to take into account the industry's survival and the cost of palm oil production from time to time.

MoF said the WPL on the palm oil industry had been implemented since 1999 using the same calculation formula as it is today, except for the levy rate and threshold value which have been amended several times.

"The windfall profit threshold value set for the purpose of imposing the WPL on oil palm fruit has been revised several times since this levy was implemented.

"The original threshold value was RM2,000 and the latest threshold value is RM3,000 for Peninsular Malaysia and RM3,500 for Sabah and Sarawak," said the ministry in a written reply to a question from Datuk Ngeh Koo Ham (Beruas-PH) on the possibility of abolishing the WPL, published on the Parliament’s website today.

MoF said the original levy rate for Sabah and Sarawak which was 1.5 per cent has been adjusted to the levy rate for Peninsular Malaysia at three per cent.

"Although the levy rate has been equalised, the windfall profit threshold value for Sabah and Sarawak is set higher than for Peninsular Malaysia to take into account the higher production costs of oil palm fruit in Sabah and Sarawak," it added. - BERNAMA