Malaysia implemented on Wednesday a 6 percent consumption tax aimed at plugging a leaky tax-collection system and addressing a widening fiscal deficit, which has sparked opposition protests over the past year. The government and economists say the Goods and Services Tax (GST) will help address an inadequate revenue-collection system under which income tax is currently paid by only an estimated 11 percent of registered companies and 14.8 percent of employees. But the GST has prompted demonstrations by opposition parties who say consumers are being left with the bill for the government's mismanagement of the economy. Prime Minister Najib Razak on Monday said the GST - which does not apply to staple food items such as rice, sugar and cooking oil, as well as some medicines - would not overburden consumers. "At the same time, we will raise the nation's revenue; this is for the people's good," he was quoted as saying by Malaysian media. The government said the GST will raise an estimated 22 billion ringgit ($6 billion) in additional revenue each year. It hopes to trim its fiscal deficit to 3.2 percent of gross domestic product (GDP) in 2015, compared to 3.5 percent last year.