Budget 2019 It S Just A Blame Game Says Najib

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Former prime minister Najib Razak says the fiscal deficit is due to the abolishment of the goods and services tax. (Bernama pic)KUALA LUMPUR: Budget 2019 is an attempt by Putrajaya to blame the former Barisan Nasional (BN) administration for the country’s fiscal deficit
Najib, when met by reporters after the announcement of the Budget 2019 by Finance Minister Lim Guan Eng, reiterated that the government could monetise the 1MDB assets to pay off its debts
“It is clear that they want to blame the (former) BN government and the 1MDB issue. They didn’t mention the 1MDB assets
“1MDB has many assets. So if we monetise these assets and fix a best price, the 1MDB loans can be written off
“This does not mean that (I am trying to stop) authorities from taking action against the abuse of power
“But I just want to say that 1MDB has assets that can be used to pay off the debts,” he said
Najib claimed that the deficit was caused by the abolishment of the goods and services tax (GST) where the PH government lost a net revenue of RM44 billion a year
“The root of the deficit is when they abolished the GST, and lost RM44 billion a year. Maybe more than that. During the tax holiday, they lost RM55 billion
“The sales and services tax this year, they only managed to get RM5 billion. There is a RM50 billion gap, and this is the real reason that is haunting the finance minister
“This RM50 billion gap is the reason why he is forced to deflect the issue towards 1MDB
“If the GST had stayed, everything, including the MRT3, High Speed Rail, East Coast Rail Link and aid such as BR1M, could have been done,” he added
Meanwhile, when asked about fugitive businessman Low Taek Jho, or Jho Low, and two Goldman Sachs bankers who were indicted by the US Department of Justice (DoJ) for conspiring to launder money and violating the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act in relation to 1MDB, Najib said it was up to the DoJ to take action

“I have no comment on that as it is action taken based on the law. I have said, let everything be based on the law,” he said. - FMT

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