Najib lists 17 ‘questions’ to clear up Guan Eng’s ‘manipulative’ statements on economy
(The Star) – The war of words between former prime minister Datuk Seri Najib Tun Razak and Finance Minister Lim Guan Eng over the country’s economy shows no sign of slowing down.
Following Lim’s latest statement on Sunday (Sept 23) urging Najib to explain the drastic drop in the government’s Consolidated Revenue Account, the latter has come up with a list of questions of his own.
Najib said that he asked the questions so that Malaysians can understand the true state of the economy, after Lim released what the ex-finance minister alleged were “manipulative” (putarbelit) statements on the matter.
He said that despite his explanations on the state of the economy, Lim was still not satisfied.
Among his questions was on whether the Pakatan Government has lost the RM30 bil or more in this year’s revenue due to the three-month Goods and Services Tax (GST) holiday, adding that Malaysia could be the only country to go from GST and return to the Sales and Service Tax (SST).
“Is it true that one of the main stressors to the country’s finances next year will be the loss of RM40 bil in revenue due to the abolishment of GST and the increase in bulk subsidy?” he said.
“If it is true that the country’s debt is RM1tril as claimed by you, and we are at the edge of a financial crisis, why is it that all the international rating agencies, IMF, and the World Bank has given us an A rating?” he added.
He also inserted a graph to show the correlation between the price of oil and ringgit, stating that Lim had alleged there was no connection between the two.
Najib’s latest post follows Lim’s statement on Sunday asking the him to explain the drastic drop of RM11.41bil or 96% in the Consolidated Revenue Account over a four month period from Dec 31, 2017 to April 30, which had left the new Pakatan Harapan Government with only RM450mil to spend.
Najib refuted this, saying that it was “impossible” as there was always a buffer of two months in the country’s coffers.
That money, he said, could help with the payment of salaries and pension, which cost the Government RM8 bil a month.
“And if your claims are true and if the Government is left with only RM450mil at the end of April 2018, you have access to all the Government’s accounts and it is easy to get the answer as to where the money was spent.
“Why ask me?” he said.
Najib claimed that what he was showing was the real state of the country’s economy, based on facts.
“No amount of manipulative statements (from Lim) will help if your managements and policies are bad,” he added.
