MIC Youth has lamented that the government did not carry out consultation when it hiked foreign worker levies, which will severely impact the businesses community.

“The government should have consulted stakeholders before steeply increasing the foreign workers levy effective from Feb 1.

“If it had consulted it will know that businesses, especially small businesses, are already over-burdened by cost and cannot afford the doubling of the levy,” said MIC Youth chief C Sivarraajh in a statement today.

Calling for the government to “urgently review the steep increase”, which sees levies hiked to RM1,500 and RM2,500, he said businesses are already struggling with high costs and lower sales.

“Companies are already reeling from the economic downturn and that sudden increase is indeed shocking,” he said.

Deputy Prime Minister and Home Minister Ahmad Zahid Hamidi announced the new levies on Sunday, saying it would boost the government’s revenue by an additional RM2.5 billion.

“It is sad that the levy [increase has been] imposed without any discussions at all.

“Everybody will suffer from the raise - plantation, construction, services - because all sectors employ foreign workers extensively,” said Sivaraajh.