Navaratnam: Delay in PH promises a pragmatic move

(FMT) – Pakatan Harapan’s postponement of five election pledges will help to contain the budget deficit within 2.8% of the Gross Domestic Product, says former Treasury secretary-general Ramon Navaratnam.

Now chairman of the Asli Centre of Public Policy Studies Tan Sri Ramon Navaratnam said the federal government budget should be carried out in a pragmatic manner to reflect current economic and financial realities, which included the loss of revenue from Goods and Services Tax being zero-rated. 

“Debt management will improve considerably with the postponement of these five pledges,” he said, and the national debt would be more manageable by international standards.

On Thursday, the PH-led federal government decided to postpone five programmes in Pakatan Harapan’s ’10 Promises in 100 Days’ election manifesto until the country’s financial situation recovers.

These included petrol subsidies for cars under 1,300cc and motorcycles under 125cc; Employees Provident Fund contributions for housewives and a higher minimum wage; delayed student loan repayments and national expansion of Selangor’s Skim Peduli Sihat.

Navaratnam welcomed budget changes announced by Finance Minister Lim Guan Eng, which forecast a drop of RM6.6 billion in revenue and higher expenditure of RM6.3 billion. “The net overall budget impact will be a negative balance of RM300 million,” Navaratnam said.

He urged Pakatan Harapan to adopt higher standards of transparency and pragmatism for future budget proposals, for the public good.