KUALA LUMPUR, April 19 — Malaysia’s stock market and currency will crash with sovereign debts surpassing RM1 trillion if Pakatan Harapan (PH) implements the policies stated in its GE14 manifesto, Datuk Seri Najib Razak asserted today.
The Barisan Nasional (BN) chairman attributed the probability of the scenario he drew happening if the Opposition pact took federal power in the coming elections.
The Star Online reported Najib citing PH’s promises to abolish all tolls, remove the goods and services tax (GST) and provide free loans under the National Higher Education Fund (PTPTN) as burdening the country with an additional RM430 billion in debt.
“The total debt may go up to more than RM1 trillion based on a study done by the Finance Ministry.
“Our stock market will drop and our currency will be affected, with the rakyat ultimately suffering the consequences,” he was quoted saying while launching the Minggu Saham Amanah Malaysia 2018 at the Stadium Batu Pahat in Johor.
According to Najib, this would result in the country’s debt skyrocketing to 80 per cent from 50.8 per cent of the gross domestic product.
“Therefore this is not something to be trifled with or used as political material merely to win votes.
“We cannot be populist... we must be responsible,” he was quoted adding.
A separate report by news portal Malaysiakini quoted Najib stressing that removing the GST would not necessarily reduce the prices of goods and services.
Following BN’s GE14 manifesto launched on April 17, three credit ratings agencies revised the country’s growth with a more positive expectation following the presentation of BN’s manifesto on April 17.
“Among them was the World Bank revising our growth from 5.4 per cent to 5.6 per cent with JP Morgan and Malaysian Institute Of Economic Research also optimistic about the country’s growth.
“In contrast, they made no mention of the opposition manifesto because there is no value in their manifesto,” Najib was quoted saying.
