Minister: Budget 2013 will create concrete base to develop longer term plans and policies

 

Nor Mohamed: ‘The budget will set longer term policies,

to ensure quality growth in the coming years.’

KUALA LUMPUR: The upcoming Budget 2013 will not only be an annual budgetary allocation but instead will create a concrete base to develop longer term plans and policies to ensure sustainable economic growth for the future, said Minister in the Prime Minister's Department, Tan Sri Nor Mohamed Yakcop.

 

He said the Government, through the Finance Ministry, was considering all focus areas in the budget very seriously, taking into account all external factors such as the economic slowdown in the United States and Europe.

 

“The budget will set longer term policies, to ensure quality growth in the coming years.

 

“I am positive and optimistic that this budget will feed the needs of the day and times,” Nor Mohamed told reporters after attending a Hari Raya Open House organised by Yayasan Peneraju Pendidikan Bumiputera, here today.

 

He said despite the uncertainties in the external market and amidst slowing growth in economic powerhouses like China and India, Malaysia had registered a commendable gross domestic product growth for the first half of this year.

 

“If the external factors are fine, then imagine the level of growth that Malaysia can achieve. The current growth is actually limited due to the external factors that we have to indirectly face too,” he added.

 

Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib Tun Razak, who is also Finance Minister, is expected to table Budget 2013 in Parliament on Sept 28, 2012.

 

Meanwhile, he also dismissed allegations that Malaysia will be on the verge of bankrupcty if the government announced more financial goodies for Malaysians to ease the rising cost of living, in the upcoming budget.

 

Nor Mohamed, who had previously served as economic advisor to former prime minister Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamad and later as the Second Finance Minister to the then premier, Tun Abdullah Ahmad Badawi, described the allegation as “total nonsense”.

 

He said since being in power in 1955, the Barisan Nasional government is known for its prudence in its financial spending and planning. “Why we can stand this long is mainly because we are prudent even during the hard times. We only spend on projects that can bring prosperity and better earnings in the future.

 

“We have never borrowed from anybody to manage our financial expenditure. Not even during the difficult times such as 1971 and 1986. We cannot stop those who spread lies. But one thing is for sure. The Barisan Nasional government was prudent, is prudent and will always be prudent when it comes to finance,” he said.

BERNAMA