KUALA LUMPUR, Feb 22 — If the national deficit is to shrink, the government needs to spend prudently and efficiently in order to give the highest return with a zero leakage rate, said an economist.
Former executive director of the Malaysian Institute of Economic Research (MIER), Professor Emeritus Datuk Zakariah Abdul Rashid said that with the implementation of this self-financing, Malaysia can achieve high economic growth.
He said with the budget this time, Prime Minister Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim who is also the Finance Minister is dealing with the financial problems of the federal government experiencing prolonged deficits, accumulating deficits year after year and needs to find ways to generate revenue and create structural reforms.
“If this can be done by the Prime Minister, it would be really good for us,” he said, when commenting on the Budget 2023 presentation session that will take place this Friday (February 24), during Ruang Bicara on Bernama TV last night.
Zakariah said that based on history, when Anwar was the Finance Minister, at that time Malaysia enjoyed a fiscal surplus, rather than a deficit and this time he is faced with the opposite situation.
“It is the Prime Minister’s wish to reduce this deficit. We want to see whether he can repeat his success and reduce this deficit little by little until finally we can enjoy a surplus
“It (deficit reduction) will take several years and if that can be done, this is what is called structural reform,” he said.
Touching on the issue of subsidies, Zakariah said it is a burden on the national economy because Malaysia is a country that gives the most subsidies.
“One of the reasons for our inefficiency or decline in competitiveness is because we have too many subsidies, not (only) education subsidies but LPG RON and so on,” he said.
He said subsidies give many advantages to the people but economic competitiveness becomes dull.
Zakariah said should the subsidy reduction measures be carried out, they would be unpopular and many people would protest. He would like to see if the subsidy reduction could be done or not.
— Bernama
