Malaysians waiting for the new Pakatan Harapan government to abolish the Goods and Services Tax (GST) will have to wait a little longer.

An aide to Prime Minister Dr Mahathir Mohamad told Malaysiakini that a viral message claiming that the GST will be abolished effective June 1, is fake.

The Finance Ministry has also issued a denial.

"At the time the government has not set a time period for abolishing the GST," said the ministry in a statement. 

The fake statement, which claims to be from the Finance Ministry, says the GST abolishment is a Hari Raya Aidilfitri gift to all Malaysians from the federal government.

It also claimed that there would be no new tax for the first two years of the new government's administration.

Speaking to a press conference in Penang later, finance minister-designate Lim Guan Eng denied issuing an order to abolish GST. 

"I cannot issue any instructions as I have not been sworn in. Only the prime minister can issue instructions," he added.

However, Lim said this does not mean that the Harapan government would not abolish the tax, which was implemented on April 1, 2015.

It would be done in 100 days of Harapan's coming into power, as mentioned in its manifesto, he added.

In the 100 days, Harapan has promised to replace GST with the sales and services tax.

Former finance minister Daim Zainuddin has assured that removing the GST will not have a negative impact on the economy.