Three months into 2012, Najib seeks additional RM10.2 bil

“Where will the money come from?” was the question on everyone's lips when prime minister Najib Razak announced his RM232 billion 2012 budget last year.

But only a quarter into 2012, he will be seeking a parliamentary approval for RM10.29 billion in supplemental budget this week.

The manner cash has been dished out in the past few months - through the RM500 cash aid, revision of civil servants pay scheme which requires extra RM3.4 billion, as well as camouflaged extra costs following toll abolition at the Cheras-Kajang Highway - is enough reason why the huge amount being requested should not surprise anyone.

In abolishing toll charges at the Cheras-Kajang highway, a central fact was concealed: the government was to pay RM100 million in compensation which did not include the RM120.55 compensation for toll reduction effective March.

Then came the write-off of RM589 million in debt owed by former MAS chairman Tajudin Ramli to the government's Danaharta, despite an order by the High Court in 2009 to pay up. The government also did not attempt to recover the RM976.7 million public fund given to concessionaire Maju Holdings in the controversial sale of the Kuala Lumpur-Putrajaya highway (MEX) to EP Manufacturing Berhad.

Fuel subsidy last year consumed RM4.45 billion of the government’s treasury. Coupled with the recent global fuel price surge and looming elections, Najib announced that the government would bear the brunt of an extra 10 sen to maintain the price of RON95 fuel.

“To maintain RON95 at RM1.90 per litre, Government has increased subsidy from RM0.93 to RM1.03. The people's best interest is my priority,” said Najib, perhaps vary of how his predecessor Abdullah Badawi contributed to the BN's losses following a shock fuel hike to RM2.70 a litre.

Still, critics were told the government was doing okay with RM456.1 billion debt, or 53 percent of GDP, just two percent away from the critical level.

Last week, PAS's Kuala Selangor member of parliament Dzulkefly Ahmad warned that national debt would have breached the critical level of 55 percent of GDP, at 65 percent, if contingent liabilities of RM116.76 billion was taken into account.

According to a report in Chinese-daily Sin Chew, the additional allocation under the supplementary budget, the second such request in a fiscal year, is mainly meant for “political expenditure”.

“The country has been having a fiscal deficit for 15 consecutive years because there is no proper control over expenditure. Oil revenues might still be able to sustain the huge expenditure today, but once we become a net oil importer, the 'emperor's new clothes will disappear',” warned an opinion piece in the paper.

With such a trend of out-of-control spending, Najib is expected to increase fuel prices and implement the controversial goods and services tax (GST) soon after elections are over, and of course, subject to BN returning to power.

“The government had spent RM186.94 billion last year, far surpassing the RM181.6 billion operating expenses tablet in the 2012 Budget.

"Although the government's revenue had increased by 16.1 percent last year, the expenditure had also increased by RM23.4billion,” it added.

If the general election continues to be pushed, the government’s expenditure is expected to rise in tandem with keeping up the feel-good factor, cushioning the people’s burden in the surge of international crude oil prices and financing the new Skim Saraan Malaysia (SSM) which would see 7 to 13 percent salary increment for civil servants.

-Harakahdaily