Review the 2009 Malaysian Budget
DAP National DAP Chairman and MP for Kepong Dr Tan Seng Giaw proposes that the Government review the 2009 Budget， consistent with the current world economic crisis because the budget to be debated in the House has been drafted much before the present financial tsunami.
Dr Tan comments on the economic slowdown in Malaysia in the face of the international economic crisis on 12.10.2008, the eve of the reopening of the House.
The vicissitude of Malaysian politics with the Prime Minister stepping down before the end of his tenure provides food for thought. The world economic crisis with U.S. shares down by 35%, Europe by 40% and Asia by 30-60% may last some time, perhaps a year.
The American subprime fiasco and the loss of financial ehtics result in the bankrupcy of banks and insurance companies, affecting the world. The U.S. which has been opposing nationalization and preaching the free enterprise, has become the country that has undertaken the biggest nationalization in history. The Congress approves the initial USD 700 billion to rescue the American economy, the final sums that may be trillions of USD being unknown.
The International Monetary Fund has appeoved USD200 billion to ease the crisis and Singapore has economic recession by definition. The change in the premiership and the jockeying for position among some leaders appear to be oblivious of the current financial tsunami.
There are no signs that Malaysia will follow the path of the 1998 economic crisis. But, we have to be very cautious. We have to tighten the belt before disaster strikes. For example, after 10 years of the measures to strengthen our banking sector, is it safe against another crisis?
The 2009 Budget is RM 207.9 billion, 154.2 billion current expenditure and RM 53.7 billion development expenditure. With the present crisis, does Malaysia have enough allocations for the whole budget? If we do not have sufficient allocations, it is futile to engage in the debate of such a budget. The Government has decided to adjourn the House during Ramadan. It looks odd to present the budget before Ramadan and debate it after the holy month. It will be better to present it when the House resumes, followed by its debate.
Dr Tan Seng Giaw
posted by Tan Seng Giaw @ 10/12/2008 05:09:00 PM
1 Comments:
The New Zealand Labour government has moved to guarantee bank deposits up to a total of NZ$150 billion.
'The government will guarantee deposits in institutions including registered banks, building societies, credit unions, deposit-taking finance companies and in cash PIEs (portfolio investment entities) sponsored by qualifying institutions. The Government will cover an institution with up to $5 billion in deposits for free. Larger institutions will be charged a fee of 0.1 per cent of the value of deposits above that. The scheme will run for two years.
It will add about $150 billion to the Government's books as a contingent liability.' (Source: The New Zealand Herald http://www.nzherald.co.nz/nz/news/article.cfm?c_id=1&objectid=10537333 )
Malaysia does have a big trade surplus, high reserves and high domestic savings but is it enough to insulate us from a potential global financial meltdown. We have not heard about any anti-recession measures from the Malaysian government. Singapore has high reserves too but that is not stopping them from announcing anti-recession measures.
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