PM Invites Public To Give Ideas For Budget 2010
(Bernama) — Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib Tun Razak has invited the people to give ideas and suggestions for the 2010 Budget which he will tabled in parliament on Oct 23.
“Encouraged by the many responses and comments I have received previously via this website, once again I seek your compact suggestions this week on what measures or incentives may be included in the budget.
“Suggestions should be specific and focus on how we can move to become a high level income nation and also relate to the six NKRAs (National Key Result Areas),” Najib said in his blog www.1malaysia.com.my.
The 2010 Budget is Najib’s maiden budget since becoming the country’s sixth prime minister on April 3 this year.
On Malaysia’s economy, Najib, who is the finance minister, said, “we have come a long way from our agricultural and commodity-driven years, resulting in the dynamic upper middle-income economy of today.”
Despite having successfully weathered difficulties such as the 1997 Asian economic crisis and proven to be resilient in the current global financial crisis, “much work remains before we can call ourselves a fully developed nation by 2020,” Najib said.
He said to achieve the Vision 2020, Malaysia must both become a high income economy, as defined by the World Bank, and attain a higher human development index score “reflecting our status as a developed nation.”
“We have no option but to transform our economic activities in the right sub-sectors of our economy to catapult our nation to become a high level income nation,” he said.
He stressed that “transformation must entail leaving our comfort zone behind once more as we seek to become more competitive.”
He said the changes that Malaysia might have to confront included the need to adapt to external economic demand patterns, integrate further within the region and adjust the country’s domestic structure.
“This exquisite balance is required to ensure that all Malaysians benefit,” he said, adding that the government must play the role in facilitating private economic growth through the implementation of further institutional reforms.
