Former Prime Minister, Datuk Seri Najib Razak has once again criticised the Pakatan Harapan government in relation to the country’s economy. According to him, the sudden increase in domestic consumption when the 6% GST was abolished will only be for a short while and Malaysia’s economy will suffer tremendous pressure when the SST is re-introduced soon.
As reported by FMT, Najib clarified that there was a huge drop in GDP growth since the current government took over in May and every economic sector in Malaysia experienced a decrease except for domestic consumption.
Source: NST
He said,
“It is now lower than Thailand’s and Indonesia’s GDP growth rates, which we have been outperforming for some time. This is a worry for sure.”
Source: Invest Cyberjaya
Najib blamed the sudden drop in GDP growth on the cancellation and postponement of “essential” infrastructure projects as well as late payments to all the suppliers that service the government.
Imports have also increased faster than exports ever since the zero-rating of the GST, to meet the demands of domestic consumption.
“As a result, our trade surplus has dropped. Added together with outflows of funds since the election, our current account surplus had a big drop that surprised most people. It has now dropped to less than US$1 billion (RM4.09 billion), which is much lower than the RM15 billion in the previous quarter,” he explained.
Source: BNM
He then said that the current government can still breathe because of the “high cash balances” left by his administration in Bank Negara Malaysia, Petronas and Khazanah but he questioned on what will happen if all these cash runs out. Really meh?
He added,
“Growth, the stock market and job creation were moving along fine when Barisan Nasional was in power. We had no problem with that as we had recovered well from the great global recession in 2008-2009 and then the big oil price slump in 2014-2016. So I do not understand why the PH government is experiencing such problems almost immediately after BN lost.”
Najib claimed that his administration was equipped with a good national transformation plan and it was working well although they faced challenges early on.
“It would have put our country in a very strong position for innovation, growth and resilience. It is a shame that we can no longer execute this to the end,” he ended his argument.
Do you agree with the pointers that Datuk Seri Najib presented or is he just trying to put the current government in a bad light? Share with us your thoughts!
Also read: “I Have Never Seen Such Stupidity in the History of Malaysia,” Says Tun M About Najib’s Govt
