PETALING JAYA: PKR strategist Rafizi Ramli has rebutted the Finance Ministry’s claim that the Pakatan Rakyat election manifesto, if implemented, will burn a hole in the nation’s accounts.
According to him, this was a wild allegation devoid of any economic basis.
He was responding to Second Finance Minister Husni Hadnadzlah’s claim last week that should the opposition pact implement all its manifesto promises, it would lead the government’s fiscal deficit to swell to 11.5% and the country’s debts would rise to 62.1% from the current 54.6%
Husni also said the country’s revenue would then be insufficient to finance the government’s operations expenditure and it would have to borrow money to pay the civil servants’ salaries.
Countering the claims at a press conference today, Rafizi said Husni’s calculation was done on the presumption that the Pakatan government would operate in a similar way like Barisan Nasional.
He said contrary to Husni’s belief, Pakatan had no plans to fork out additional money to fund the RM45.75 billion needed for the string of reforms promised in the manifesto.
He said the source for the RM45.75 billion funding would arrive from a proposed cut of the government’s supplementary budget, which hovers around RM18 billion a year, and an estimated 10% saving of the annual budget would amount to RM250 billion.
“If we save 10% from the annual budget and stop the practice of overspending, we could easily get the RM45 billion without having to incur any extra costs.
“In fact, a 10% saving is very doable because it is what that has been achieved by the Selangor government,” he said, adding that the saving would be made up from prevention of wastage and leakages.
He said Husni’s concerns over borrowing money to pay civil servants’ salaries should be directed to the BN government, which had allegedly been “extracting” Petronas dividends to cover its high operational costs.
He said the operational costs of the government have been above the national revenue without Petronas dividends since 2005.
In 2011, the operational costs was RM182 billion while the revenue without Petronas dividend was RM155 billion, he added.
“If not because of Petronas’ revenue, which they [BN government] have extracted in exorbitant amounts, they would have to borrow money to pay the civil servants,” he said.
Prudent spending
Meanwhile, PKR vice-president Wong Chen also announced at the press conference a proposal to introduce an anti-corruption dividend scheme in the public service sector to inculcate the culture of eliminating leakages and wastage.
He said the government expenditure for service and supply procurement stood at RM34 billion a year and a prudent spending of this would save the government a large amount of money.
“For example, the RM400 screwdrivers and RM24,000 laptop [as highlighted in the last Auditor-General’s Report]; we will encourage civil servants to report this to us.
“By the end of the year, the civil servants will get to enjoy part of the savings made. Specific measures will be made on how to distribute the money,” he said.
Wong said Pakatan would also honour the current’s government pledge of giving civil servants a pay rise by July 1.
On another issue, Rafizi clarified that Pakatan’s proposal of phasing out excise duty on motor vehicles included motorcycles.
He said the current excise duty imposed on motorcycles was between 20% and 30%, which would be phased out within two years should Pakatan come into power.
He also said Pakatan would allocate an additional RM2 billion to ensure a balanced cash flow during the transitional period of phasing out excise duty.
