Gerakan Secretary-General Liang Teck Ming said with the latest Gross Domestic Product (GDP) statistics furnished by Chief Minister Lim Guan Eng, it was more apparent that BN’s assertion that Pakatan had performed poorly was true, after all.
“Based on figures that Lim released yesterday, Penang is the third worst among 15 states and territories for GDP per capita growth for the period 2008 to 2015.
“Alternatively, Penang is the fourth worst if you consider the period 2009 to 2015,” he said in a statement today.
Yesterday, Lim took Gerakan to task for smearing Penang’s economic health by using “outdated” GDP figures.
He claimed Penang had performed well under Pakatan’s time in power, making the state No 1 in terms of GDP in 2014 and 2015.
Meanwhile, Liang said he was pleased that Penang Institute Chief Executive Officer and Economics Chief Dr Lim Kim-Hwa was available to clarify the matter in an “honest, professional and non-political basis”.
“Therefore, we call upon the esteemed Dr Kim-Hwa to help answer the following questions objectively and without any political considerations.”
The 10 questions posed were:
Question 1:
For the period between 2008 and 2015 (i.e. end of 2007 to end 2015), what is the cumulative percentage of growth in Penang’s state GDP per capita and what is its position among all 15 states and territories in Malaysia?
Question 2:
For the period between 2008 and 2015 (i.e. end of 2007 to end 2015), what was the average GDP growth for Penang and what was the average GDP growth for Malaysia? Did Penang under-perform or over-perform when compared to the whole country during this entire eight-year period?
Question 3:
Based on the figures released by Guan Eng yesterday, is it true that at the end of 2007 – just two months before DAP took over the Penang Government on March 8, 2008 – the GDP per capita for Kuala Lumpur was RM18,306 more than Penang while the GDP per capita for Selangor was RM5,022 less than Penang?
Is it also true that by the end of the eight-year rule of DAP, the GDP per capita for Kuala Lumpur had widened to RM49,875 more than Penang, while the GDP per capita for Selangor had narrowed by more than half to just RM2,236 less than Penang?
Question 4:
Based on official Statistics Department figures, which were also quoted by Guan Eng, can you confirm that under the previous BN state government, Penang’s GDP growth for 2006 and 2007 was 10.8 per cent and 6.5 per cent respectively while the GDP growth for 2014 and 2015 was 8 per cent and 5.5 per cent. That would mean the GDP growth in Penang in the last two years under BN rule was higher than in 2014 and 2015?
Question 5:
Using the same data, can you also confirm that the Penang state GDP per capita growth for 2006 and 2007 was 10.40 per cent and 5.93 per cent respectively, while for 2014 and 2015 it was 9.5 per cent and 6.5 per cent – i.e. taken as an average of the two-year periods, the state GDP per capita for 2006 and 2007 is higher than for 2014 and 2015 under DAP rule?
Question 6:
In your Penang Institute article, dated July 19, 2016 titled “Penang’s Economy: GDP Growth Rates and 2016 Projection”, did you state that one of the top reasons for Penang’s better growth for 2015 (and possibly 2014) was due to “Ringgit Malaysia has depreciated against US dollar. Therefore, Malaysian exports will be more competitive globally. With an export-orientated economy, Penang will benefit more than Malaysia”?
If that is the case, is it true that on one hand, Guan Eng and DAP frequently criticise the weaker ringgit while on the other hand, they take credit for higher Penang’s GDP growth for 2015, which was due to the same weaker ringgit that they criticise?
Question 7:
Based on the auditor-general’s official audited accounts, what are the operating expenses (“perbelanjaan mengurus”) for Penang in 2008 and what were the operating expenses in 2013, 2014 and 2015?
Question 8:
What was the source of the increased revenue to fund these big increases in Penang Government operating expenses ?
If the source of the increased revenue was due to the sale of limited state assets, is selling limited state assets to fund a multiple-fold jump in operating expenses a sustainable business model?
Question 9:
Guan Eng had frequently used the figures for manufacturing investment from the Malaysian Investment Development Authority (Mida) to claim that Penang was at the top spot for investments in the years 2010 and 2011. What position did Penang hold in 2012, 2013, 2014 and 2015, based on the same source?
Question 10:
Since 2011, Guan Eng has continually boasted that he has reduced state debt by 95 per cent, or a RM655 million reduction. Was this debt reduction in 2011 due to surpluses from the operating budget of the DAP Penang Government or was it due to the Federal Government taking over billions in Penang state water assets and converting the outstanding RM655 million loan to a 45-year annual lease payment of RM14.56 million per year – which works out to be the same amount?