By S.C.
Introduction
The maiden Budget unveiled by the Prime Minister was anticipated with great expectations of a new direction to move the Malaysian economy on to a new path of growth and revival through the adoption of policy reforms designed to restore competitiveness. These expectations, sadly, were not met.
The 40-odd-page two-hour long Budget speech delivered by the Prime Minister in Parliament was a great disappointment. It contained little by way of a bold policy agenda or a set of much needed measures to begin to restore the Malaysian economy to health.
The speech was long on rhetorical assertions and a litany of expenditure proposals; it contained little in the way of actual innovative thinking despite the Prime Minister’s resolve to adopt a new model for the economy “based on innovation, creativity and value-added activities”.
There were hardly any credible steps outlined as to how the unsustainable record high fiscal deficit of 7.4 percent recorded in 2009 was to be slashed. The broad assertion that the reduction of the deficit to 5.6 percent was to be largely achieved via proposed expenditure cuts in the year ahead. The main spending cuts are to come from reduced “operating expenditure”, lower food and fuel subsidies, and less money for development spending. Yet the expenditure proposals for 2010 allocate 11 per cent more money for the Government wage bill in 2010 for the nearly one million workers on the payroll which account for almost 10 per cent of the work force and constitute a mainstay of the BN government’s support. Continue reading “The 2010 Budget: sound and fury without substance”