M’sia to downgrade 2021 growth forecast: I told you so, Najib sneers at the Gov’t

M’sia to downgrade 2021 growth forecast: I told you so, Najib sneers at the Gov’t



FORMER Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib Tun Razak mocked the Government for finally revising Malaysia’s growth for this year, after announcing an “unrealistic” number last year.

“A few days ago, the Government announced they would downgrade Malaysia’s projected gross domestic product (GDP) for this year.

“At last, they admitted that the mind-boggling 7.5% growth forecasted for 2021, under Budget 2021, was too optimistic.

“During the budget debate in November last year, I have cautioned the Government that such unrealistic projection, given our economic condition would create a negative effect on our national deficit forecast, debt level and investors’ confidence in Malaysia.

“You tell me, which investor would have faith in a country which errs in its economic and fiscal management time and time again?” he asked, in a Facebook post.

Last year, Finance Minister Datuk Seri Tengku Zafrul Aziz insisted Malaysia’s economy is projected to grow by up to 7.5% this year, as one of the nations in East Asia recording the fastest economic growth.

He told the 2020 Malaysian Economic Summit that this made Malaysia an attractive platform for firms to invest in and capitalise on, to thrive in the region.

However, the World Bank recently lowered its GDP projection for Malaysia for the second time — from 6% estimated in March and 6.7% in December 2020- due to the rise in COVID-19 infections and slow mass vaccination roll-out.

Datuk Seri Najib Razak’s Facebook post

Always consider “worst case scenario”

Following World Bank’s downgrade, Tengku Zafrul announced that the Government would follow suit, adding the new forecast would be announced in August.

On that note, Najib said if the forecast made by the World Bank and other ratings agencies come true, it would show that Malaysia was again falling behind in terms of economic rejuvenation.

“Pakatan Harapan (PH) was also guilty of making such errors in projection when they forecasted our economy to grow by 4.9% in 2019, but ended up with 4.3% GDP growth instead,” he added.

Najib stated that he had warned both administrations that the Government cannot make estimates based on “best case scenario”, as one must also take into account “worst case scenario”.

During his tenure, the Pekan MP said always used conservative projection numbers when drafting yearly budgets.

“That’s why we didn’t really have to downgrade our GDP growth projections during my administration and never failed to reduce budget deficit.

“Instead, we had to revise our projections upwards,” Najib remarked. – July 1, 2021.