“When the Budget 2019 is tabled tomorrow, where the government will plead to the people to make sacrifices, I foresee the PH government pointing their fingers at me and the previous BN government with their made-up RM1 trillion debt claim,” the Pekan MP said on Facebook.
He said it was a convenient way for PH to cover up its weaknesses in managing the nation’s finances, adding that the previous Barisan Nasional government under him had never burdened the people.
“Not once did we ask the people to make sacrifices,” said Najib. “For the PH government, we see them planning to reduce aid to the people, abolishing people-friendly projects, increasing and introducing new taxes where the people are asked to make sacrifices.
“This is strange. Therefore, an easy solution for PH is to point their fingers at me and the previous BN government to cover up for their own weaknesses without considering the facts,” he said.
Najib said he was convinced that PH would fail to achieve the target of 2.8% deficit set in Budget 2018.
Upon reviewing the 11th Malaysia Plan (11MP) mid-term report, he found that PH had increased the targeted deficit until 2020, compared with the ones set by the previous government.
Najib is convinced that the deficit budget for the years 2018 to 2020 would be higher due to the abolishment of the Goods and Services Tax (GST), on top of a slower economic growth.
“The government will experience a budget deficit when its expenditures are higher than its income, and they need loans to bridge the gap. This will cause an increase in government debt. When the deficit is high, it means more loans are made, hence increasing debts.
“So how will the PH government reduce the national debt if they are taking more loans following a bigger deficit?” he asked, referring to Deputy Finance Minister Amiruddin Hamzah’s disclosure in Parliament on Tuesday that the government had taken RM87.5 billion in new loans between January and September and that RM46.3 billion of this was used to repay long-terms debts that had matured.
The budget, to be tabled in Parliament by Finance Minister Lim Guan Eng, will be the first budget by PH since taking over the government after the May 9 general election.