Putrajaya not addressing real threat of weak ringgit with revised budget, says PKR

PKR secretary-general Rafizi Ramli says the budget revision is a disappointment. – The Malaysian Insider file pic, January 20, 2015.

Putrajaya's budget revision is a "sore disappointment" as it does not tackle the weakening ringgit caused by plunging global oil prices, which have now hit US$48 per barrel, said PKR.

It also did not contain any revision of the RM7 billion allocated as the Prime Minister's Department discretionary budget, said the party's secretary-general Rafizi Ramli today.

Instead, the move to save RM400 million by deferring the National Service Training Programme (PLKN) this year was "too minute" and not going to help the country much, he said.

The real threat to Malaysia, Rafizi said, was the weak ringgit as a result of the drop in crude oil prices.

"It is worrying that we have a prime minister who makes an announcement that the country is not facing a crisis," he said, in reference to Datuk Seri Najib Razak's speech this morning that the government is taking preemptive measures following changes to the global economy.

"I wonder if he understands the magnitude and gravity of the ringgit inching towards RM3.70 to the US dollars.

"If he's in denial, obviously his response today does not reflect the political will and urgency to tackle the issue of the plummeting ringgit," he said at a press conference at the PKR headquarters.

He warned that the ringgit, currently at a five-year low of RM3.60 against the US dollars, could further plummet to RM3.70 in the next few months, the same rate as during the 1997/1998 Asian financial crisis.

- tmi