Deputy International Trade and Industry Minister Ahmad Maslan has defended his claims that prices would go down under the Goods and Services Tax (GST) scheme implemented since April last year.

He said at the time, when he was the deputy finance minister, he had used the term 'could' ( boleh ) rather than 'would' ( mesti ), and was merely explaining how prices of some goods could go down under GST because of its differences with the Sales and Services Tax (SST) system that was then in force.

For example, imported fruits are taxed at five percent under SST, but is zero-rated under the GST.