Budget 2019 Private Sector Must Get On Board Aggressively

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I think the Budget 2019 is well thought. The Budget is critical to move the country forward. The Pakatan government can now fully settle down to managing the country. 
The Budget shows a better level of thinking than under the kleptocrats. If Margaret Thatcher were alive she would say again that she would like to trade her Finance Minister for Lim Guan Eng. Sadly she has died and she never meant those words when she said them the first time anyway. Plus she will likely know that Lim Guan Eng is not a local village boy to be swayed by empty words.
My query is why werent the tolls on the North South Highway and the east Coast Highway reduced? I believe there is "capacity" to reduce the tolls by significant amounts. Putting a freeze on intracity toll hikes at a compensation cost of RM790 million does not mean a reduction or abolition of tolls. We well still be paying tolls - no difference. Plus that RM790 million compensation to the toll operators will be paid from taxpayers funds.
That tax on earnings by foreign consultants operating in Malaysia is a great idea. Nothing like paying more money to spur greater confidence in Malaysian consultants.  Good job.
The decision for government to pay for some projects using land instead of paying cash is classic Penang Transport Master Plan stuff.  It is good, but be careful with the valuation. We do not want another one of those 1MDB - Bandar Malaysia scandals where government land was valued at RM60 psf (??) or something when the market value was RM800 psf or something.  The Jolo type middle men made a killing.
The Penang Transport Master Plan (PTMP) envisages reclaiming 1800 hectares of land creating three islands.  Talk is the whole reclamation project is projected to have a Gross Development Value of US300 BILLION !! That is RM1.254 TRILLION, many tens of times larger than 1MDB.  


The State can derive significant revenues from the PTMP to finance the construction of that tunnel, other roads and bridges. Its a clever deal. Creating much higher value out of empty tidal seafront.
The same idea can be used to pay for Federal government projects. Instead of paying cash, pay in kind ie pay by transferring land. So the government does not have to fork out real cash.
Say a piece of agricultural land is selling at RM20 psf. The government can convert the land use to commercial and residential. Overnite the land value can jump to RM80 psf or more, which can then be valued as payment for development projects.  As I said, make sure the valuations are done right.
There are significant savings in the RM315 Billion Budget 2019 - namely the Operating Expenditure is stable. 
What I expect is more bang for the buck. I hope that RM315 billion worth of our money will really buy us RM315 Billion worth of goods and services. 
Every year easily one quarter to one third of the Budget is lost to kleptocracy, corruption, wastage and plain stupidity.  If the Budget was RM280 Billion, we only got real goods and services for about RM190 Billion. The remaining RM70 billion went to waste. Buying luxury cars for the Dumnos, Birkin bags for the witch, houses in London, Australia, etc. 
I hope the Pakatan government will make sure that the RM315 Billion allocated in Budget 2019  will be used fully to pay for exactly RM315 Billion worth of goods and services. 
If the Pakatan can do this, the Malaysian economy will jump start again. 
1. First of all the government must ONLY pay the market prices for goods and services. The same applies to all of us.
If the Honda BRV is worth RM70,000 in Indonesia then it should also sell for about the same in Malaysia.  In Malaysia the Honda BRV is about RM88k - 90k.  If you pay more it means  the "return on your work output" will be less. You will become poorer.
Its like this. Just like you the Indonesian middle class also works about eight hours a day. Perhaps at the same level of productivity as you (For example the Pronogoro guy comes from Indonesia - and some of you want to make him Prime Minister.)
But in Indonesia they pay less for a Honda BRV than you. RM70,000 there versus RM90,000 here. This means for the same amount of time they spend at work, their middle classes can buy MORE goods and services. You cannot. Why? Cos prices are higher in Malaysia.  So for the same amount of time spent working in an eight hour working day, you are ultimately poorer than your middle class peers in Indonesia.
(And if this persists the Indonesians will become wealthier than Malaysians.)
This is why it is extremely very important that all of us (government as well as the average consumer) pay "as close to reality as possible"  market prices for all our goods and services.  You get to buy more goods and services for the same amount of Budget. More bang for the buck. 
2.  Paying market prices (which should be cheaper than the high prices we suffer for almost everything in Malaysia) means being able to buy more goods. More suppliers, importers, manufacturers, wholesalers, contractors will get jobs, contracts and supply contracts. The money will circulate MORE in the economy. The C..A..S..H..F..L..O..W in the economy will speed up.  The entire economy will pick up.
Please pay real market prices for all our goods and services. This is so very important but so damned misunderstood in this country.
The kaum terancat akal do not know what is buy low sell high. Another time. Now its time for tea.
Posted by Syed Akbar Ali 

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