Posted on

Sinking deeper and deeper

By S JAYASANKARAN, KL CORRESPONDENT | 31 Oct 2011
Business Times

MALAYSIA should take heed of the problems – the public anger, the social unrest – posed by the solutions offered to tackle rising sovereign debt in Europe. God forbid that we head that way!

The Auditor-General’s recent report pointed out that Malaysia’s national debt rose 12.3 per cent to over RM407 billion (S$165 billion) in 2010. The amount is equivalent to 53.1 per cent of gross domestic product. It’s the second straight year that the national debt has exceeded 50 per cent.

The figure is a reflection of the spending spree the country went on to mitigate the effects of the 2009 global financial crisis. At its peak that year, the budget deficit rose to 7.6 per cent of GDP, the highest in two decades.

It has since come down to 5.4 per cent of GDP and the government projects that it will decline further to 4.7 per cent of GDP next year. But that may be overly optimistic.
Continue reading “Sinking deeper and deeper”

Posted on

The Gemas feedlot debacle; half-truths and pertinent questions

— by Nawawi Mohamad
The Malaysian Insider
Nov 02, 2011

NOV 2 — A RM73.64 million government project in Gemas, Negri Sembilan linked to Minister Datuk Shahrizat Abdul Jalil’s family to produce 8,000 heads of cattle in 2010 and ultimately 60,000 heads in 2015 has turned into a mess when production was at only 3,289 heads in 2010 that is only 41.1 per cent.

This was reported by the Auditor-General – and subsequently reported in the media.

In parliament Noh Omar, who is the Agriculture Minister, deemed the project successful because “the total number of cattle brought into the farm between 2008 and 2010 was 8,016”.

But the main purpose of the farm is to produce cows and not to bring in cows from somewhere else and feed them before slaughter! Continue reading “The Gemas feedlot debacle; half-truths and pertinent questions”