The implementation of the GST is structured on a model where a fixed 6% tax on 532 items under the consumer's prices are reduced to 4.1 per cent.
The government had widened the scope of items that will not be subjected to GST, including 2,900 medicine brands under the National Essential Medicine to treat 30 types of disease such as heart failure, diabetes, hypertension, cancer and infertility.
Basic foods items such as food, bread, coffee as well as reading materials like children's coloring books, exercise and reference books, text books, dictionaries, religious books and newspapers are also listed under goods that are not subjected to GST.
