Mini Budget: Stimulating the Rakyat
IN the continuing series of kopitiam discussion with several veteran politicians, lawyers and economists, I would like to talk about the mini budget presented on March 10 by the Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Finance, Mohd Najib Abdul Razak.
My apologies to the readers for taking a long time to comment on this very important issue, in particular to debater Sawit Futures Trader, who had insisted that I gave my two-sen worth of views.
I had taken a long time because being out of the information loop, I have no firsthand information about the budget until it was presented. Furthermore, on this particular issue and instance, I thought I better sought the wise words of the “oracle”.
In gist, this is what the kopitiam veterans, the economists and the “oracle” have to say about the mini budget.
It did not matter much what the analysts and bloggers said. Nor the fact that the Oppositions were not stimulated by it.
What is most important is for rakyat to be stimulated. The stimulus package is for them. If the benefits go to them, they will be happy. The government has taken care of their needs. So let us wait a while and see.
The amount in the two packages is RM67 billion. This is bigger than Singapore’s S$20 billion. So it should be as we are a bigger nation. In the per capita term, however, it’s still smaller that Singapore’s package.
The comments by those who showed interest seem to suggest that in preparing the mini budget, the players were not consulted.
If this is true, getting the stimulus packages running would be harder. If the government wants private sector to create 100,000 jobs, as was stated, which companies is it targeting?
