Anwar says won’t reveal details of Pakatan shadow budget until Thursday – for a Barisan reason

Pakatan Rakyat's 2014 shadow budget projects 5.2% in economic growth and a 3.2% deficit of the Gross Domestic Product (GDP), said the opposition leader Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim.

Anwar said the Pakatan Rakyat (PR) budget will be tabled in full on Thursday, a day before Putrajaya unveils Budget 2014 on Friday.

Anwar said Pakatan did not want to put all its plans on the table for fear that the Barisan Nasional government would pinch ideas from it.

"That is what they did the last time, but did not credit us for it, so we don't want the same thing to happen unless they are serious about making the necessary changes," he said in Parliament today.

The thrust of the PR budget is on good governance and dealing with wastages and leakages that are bleeding the country's coffers, balanced, inclusive and sustainable growth, as well as improving the quality of life for Malaysians.

Anwar said that the deficit rate will be lower than BN's regular budget deficit rate, which edges closer to 4%.

He maintained that the Pakatan was opposed to the Goods and Services Tax and said every effort must be made to put a stop to the corruption and wastage as revealed in the recent Auditor General's Report, where losses from the irregularities of government agencies spending were estimated at between RM20 to RM30 billion.

"Better to come up with measures to curb this massive extravagance and corruption than to impose unnecessary tax on the rakyat,” he said.

Another measure proposed by PR was a moratorium on the National Service programme, which costs RM800 million a year, until a parliamentary select committee can determine its usefulness.