PETALING JAYA: Former Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib Razak recently admonished those who blamed him and 1Malaysia Development Bhd (1MDB) for Malaysia’s current economy. .
Najib brought the matter up in a Facebook post following a minister who blamed him and 1MDB during a podcast, for the Ringgit’s plummeting value, being at its lowest point in history and doubling the nation’s debt.
In his post, he pointed out that the Ringgit had recovered from from RM4.40 to RM3.86 during his term and said that the Ringgit’s value took a “u-turn” to gradual decline after the 14th General Elections.
“The nation’s assets value soared, the share market rose and dividends and grants from the national savings fund remained high as well as hajj package costs never increasing.
“Malaysia’s credit rating grade remained at A grade throughout that period, pensions were never withdrawn and were given an automatic increase of 2% per year and the national deficit and debt ratio decreased for 8 years in a row,” he said.
Furthermore, Najib listed down several reasons for the nation’s dwindling economy, pointing out the abolition of the Goods and Services Tax (GST) and political instability with the
“They were the ones who abolished the GST and replaced it with the Sales & Service Tax (SST). The government loses RM30 billion a year.
“The government’s loss of revenue from tax evasion is hard to calculate and has not been taken into account also.
“They also reinstated the bulk subsidies after I had rationalised it, hence the government’s burden adds up to an average of RM30 billion per year,” he added.
Najib also mentioned that the many political moves after GE14 such as the “Sheraton Move”, “Dubai Move” and the “I have the strong and convincing numbers” claim also contributed to Malaysia’s falling economy.
Besides that, Najib claimed the nation’s economy “slowed down” after GE14 in contrast to his tenure, citing the high ratio of the nation’s GDP to the national debt.
“The nation’s sluggish economy is due to the government’s low revenue from various taxes. As a result, the government deficit ratio of national debt to GDP increased after GE14 compared to the downward trend for eight consecutive years under (my administration).
“The national debt to GDP ratio jumped from 48.7 percent at the end of the 1st quarter of 2018 before GE14 to 65 percent today. Because of that, the country lost the A credit rating and was downgraded to B grade in 2020.
“Malaysia became the only country in ASEAN that was downgraded in the last 6 years and still has not been re-upgraded until today,” he said.
Furthermore, Najib remarked that 1MDB still had many valuable assets remaining after paying off the 1MDB debt without any government funding – from the Tun Razak Exchange (TRX) project worth RM40 billion, the Bandar Malaysia project worth RM140 billion to having land in Penang worth RM2 billion.
