KUALA LUMPUR – Barisan Nasional (BN) has threatened to reject the Budget 2021 if two of its conditions are not met, said former prime minister Datuk Seri Najib Razak.
Najib (Pekan-BN), who is the government’s main debater for the budget, said the two conditions are for a blanket loan moratorium to be reintroduced from January to June next year, and to allow a one-off withdrawal of RM10,000 from the Employees Provident Fund (EPF).
“The support from me and my friends (in BN) for the budget is subject to these two matters being included.
“As such, our support for the budget is conditional,” he said in the Dewan Rakyat today.
Najib was responding to a question from Datuk Seri Ahmad Maslan (Pontian-BN) if the Finance Minister Tengku Zafrul Abdul Aziz ought to make changes to the RM322.5 billion national budget that was announced last Friday, which is the biggest in the country’s history.
“If they don’t make changes, then it will be a waste of our time spending hours sharing our feedback. So why not do something out of the ordinary and pass the budget with amendments.
“Whatever good suggestions given by both sides of the divide must be accepted, and only then we will support the budget. What do you think, Pekan?” Ahmad asked Najib.
Earlier in his speech, Najib had said the one-off EPF withdrawal of RM10,000 is necessary to assist the rakyat by providing more cash in hand.
He said the cash can be used for various reasons, including paying outstanding bills and debts, purchasing motorcycles to do food delivery, paying for insurance, and using it as capital to start a small business.
Najib added that the withdrawal will not significantly affect EPF, saying even if four million Malaysians were to withdraw RM10,000 each, it will come up to RM40 billion, way below EPF’s RM940 billion total accumulated assets.
“What the government should do instead is to think of a way to ensure contributor savings can be increased in the fastest way possible.
“Among other things, the government can assist EPF by giving more lucrative projects, increase employers and employees’ contribution rate after the Covid-19 crisis, and to implement a multi-tiered dividend structure, where those with least savings will get the highest dividend.”
On the extension of blanket loan moratorium for six months, Najib questioned the government’s reluctance to implement such a policy despite the profits that banks continue to enjoy.
“If the movement control order can be extended several times, to the extent of affecting the people’s income, then why can’t the moratorium be extended too?” he said. – The Vibes, November 10, 2020
