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PETALING JAYA: Former Prime Minister Najib Razak has described Dr. Mahathir Mohamad’s suggestions that Putrajaya cut budget costs by postponing or canceling development projects as “economic suicide.”
Najib said the suggestion “didn’t make sense.”
Using the term PM4 / PM7 to describe Mahathir (as the fourth and seventh prime minister of Malaysia), Najib said, “At a time when domestic and foreign investors are not investing, PM4 / PM7 wants the government to stop investing. public “.
He added: “If that’s the case, where will the source of economic growth and new jobs come from, for this year and for years to come? It’s better for him to tell the Malaysian economy to just kill himself. “
Najib, who was the sixth prime minister of Malaysia, also warned Putrajaya about the negative effects of the “tax exemption” on the tax on car sales from June 15 to December 31.
He said that those who bought cars during this period would be burdened with debt to the point where they would spend less in future years. This was evident when the former Pakatan Harapan government used similar tactics with a three-month tax moratorium in 2018, which it said “ruined” the economy in 2019.
Mahathir’s suggestion for budget cuts was made yesterday during the debate on the 2021 budget estimates. Mahathir had said that the 2021 budget, which amounts to RM322.5 billion, did not need to be that large, and questioned the allocation of 160 million ringgit for the offices of the ministry of international trade, 231 million ringgit for the ministry of national commerce and the increase for the Prime Minister’s Department from RM7.9 billion to RM11.7 billion.
He said development spending could be temporarily delayed or reduced in favor of spending to fight the pandemic and revive the economy.
He also reminded the government that they still had to pay RM39 billion in debt held by the Barisan Nasional government, while Putrajaya’s debts could rise to RM1.3 billion with the 2021 budget.
