Economic Affairs Minister Datuk Seri Mohamed Azmin Ali and Finance Minister Lim Guan Eng have been performing their duties well after Pakatan Harapan took over Putrajaya, according to Prime Minister Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamad.
Although Pakatan Harapan inherited a financially troubled government from Barisan Nasional, both Azmin and Lim successfully drafted the 2019 Budget despite the country being heavily indebted, said Dr Mahathir in an interview with Sin Chew Daily recently.
“Considering the country’s current situation, I think both of them have done quite well. We initially thought that 2019 Budget will have a very big deficit, but it is not as big as we had expected,” he said.
Pakatan Harapan has been doing everything it can to reduce government debts since it took over, according to Dr Mahathir. Among the initiatives taken are the reduction of cost or deferring of mega projects namely the MRT Sungai Buloh-Serdang-Putrajaya line (MRT2) at a lower cost of RM13.11 billion, and ECRL which has been postponed to a later date.
He also spoke about his reason for appointing Azmin and Lim to their respective positions. “If we let Guan Eng be in charge of everything (finance and economic affairs), the Malays will not be happy, but if we let Azmin take care of everything, Guan Eng will not be happy,” he remarked.
Dr Mahathir said while both economic affairs and finance are important positions, he has broken tradition by appointing Lim as the country’s first Chinese Finance Minister after more than 40 years.
“I have broken a tradition that lasted for many years by appointing Guan Eng as Finance Minister. The last one was Tun Tan Siew Sin, after Siew Sin there was no Chinese Finance Minister. But I chose to appoint Guan Eng, partly because of his track record in managing Penang. To strike a balance, I have to let Azmin manage economic affairs,” he explained.
According to Dr Mahathir, local businesses are currently pessimistic about the country’s economic outlook seeing as the global economy is at a decline, further aggravated by the trade war between the US and China, which has affected Malaysia as well, while adding that the boycott on palm oil has been affecting the country negatively.
Economic Affairs Minister Datuk Seri Mohamed Azmin Ali and Finance Minister Lim Guan Eng have been performing their duties well after Pakatan Harapan took over Putrajaya, according to Prime Minister Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamad.
Although Pakatan Harapan inherited a financially troubled government from Barisan Nasional, both Azmin and Lim successfully drafted the 2019 Budget despite the country being heavily indebted, said Dr Mahathir in an interview with Sin Chew Daily recently.
“Considering the country’s current situation, I think both of them have done quite well. We initially thought that 2019 Budget will have a very big deficit, but it is not as big as we had expected,” he said.
Pakatan Harapan has been doing everything it can to reduce government debts since it took over, according to Dr Mahathir. Among the initiatives taken are the reduction of cost or deferring of mega projects namely the MRT Sungai Buloh-Serdang-Putrajaya line (MRT2) at a lower cost of RM13.11 billion, and ECRL which has been postponed to a later date.
He also spoke about his reason for appointing Azmin and Lim to their respective positions. “If we let Guan Eng be in charge of everything (finance and economic affairs), the Malays will not be happy, but if we let Azmin take care of everything, Guan Eng will not be happy,” he remarked.
Dr Mahathir said while both economic affairs and finance are important positions, he has broken tradition by appointing Lim as the country’s first Chinese Finance Minister after more than 40 years.
“I have broken a tradition that lasted for many years by appointing Guan Eng as Finance Minister. The last one was Tun Tan Siew Sin, after Siew Sin there was no Chinese Finance Minister. But I chose to appoint Guan Eng, partly because of his track record in managing Penang. To strike a balance, I have to let Azmin manage economic affairs,” he explained.
According to Dr Mahathir, local businesses are currently pessimistic about the country’s economic outlook seeing as the global economy is at a decline, further aggravated by the trade war between the US and China, which has affected Malaysia as well, while adding that the boycott on palm oil has been affecting the country negatively.
