2019 Budget to improve the country’s fiscal progress

KUALA LUMPUR: The institutional reform instilled in the 2019 Budget will improve the country’s fiscal progress, backed by more accountability, integrity and openness.

Universiti Kebangsaan Malaysia vice-chancellor Professor Tan Sri Dr Noor Azlan Ghazali said Malaysians should not depend on incentives particularly on public services, assuming its cheap or free.

He said Malaysia had good public services such as education and medical for the rakyat, although there was a lot more the government needs to attend to.

“Malaysia is not a poor nation. We are just about to become a rich and a developed nation. I believe with this progress of income, society has to come forward without depending on the government’s pocket,” he told reporters at the post-budget debate organised by the Malaysian Economic Association here today.

He hopes the government would engage more systems like in education to introduce serious reformation in the coming months or years.

Citing an example, he said Malaysia transportation system needed to be well-developed and maintained to allow more people take public transportation.

He said currently Malaysians love cars and the need for public transportation was limited because it only served specific group of people.

“The country is progressing. Most importantly is the country’s fiscal balance. We have to do it rightly for the right purpose and reasons. We also must have plans about how to bring the country’s deficit towards more manageable level,” he said.

Noor Azlan added that it was important for the government to have enough buffer to take deficit when the economy was facing a shock.

Meanwhile, S&P Global Ratings sovereign ratings director Andrew Wood said the government was confronting legacy challenges. This included the Goods and Services Tax and income tax rebate shortfalls.

He said some costly off-budget projects like the LRT3 and MRT2 were being effectively rationalised with significant savings.

“This would enhance transparency and more robust tendering process and provide potential upside im various new revenue measures,” he said.

Source: NST