Former prime minister says failure to talk up BN's efforts sees him being continuously attacked over the national debt.
Former prime minister Najib Razak says the economic stimulus packages were needed to cope with the economic slowdown. (Bernama pic)
PETALING JAYA: Najib Razak today defended some of the economic policies he executed when he helmed the country, claiming it had prevented Malaysia from experiencing one of the worst financial crises in the nation’s history.
However, the former prime minister admitted that the two economic stimulus packages implemented when he was finance minister saw the country’s debt to gross domestic product ratio increased by 11% in 2009.
It also rose a little, he said, in 2010 and 2011, but added that the economic stimulus packages were still needed to cope with the economic slowdown.
Najib said the measures taken by the Barisan Nasional (BN) government led to Malaysia enjoying among the highest economic growth worldwide for nine years.
Despite this, the BN government was slammed over the increase of the country’s debt.
“Some said I was out to bankrupt the nation even though the policies ensured we did not go through a financial crisis that was worse than the one experienced in 1998 where the banking system and industry were almost crippled,” he said in a Facebook post.
The former finance minister then took a swipe at Prime Minister Dr Mahathir Mohamad, who was one of Najib’s most vocal critics prior to BN’s defeat in the May 9 polls.
Najib said the criticisms against the BN government led by him were likely because they did not know how to publicise their efforts and as such, many Malaysians were unaware of the economic situation between 2008 and 2009.
“Unlike the prime minister in 1998, who always talked about how he saved the country.
“Because of this, I am always blamed for increasing the nation’s debt, even though we saved the country from an economic crisis.”
Mahathir was also the country’s prime minister from 1981 to 2003.
The Pakatan Harapan government said the country had racked up a debt of RM1 trillion. -FMT
Just admit you are incompetent and corrupt. Thats the right answer for all problem.
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ReplyDelete