‘SHARES ON BURSA WILL FALL, RINGGIT WILL CRASH’ – NAJIB TURNS TO ‘SCARE-MONGERING’ INVESTORS IN LAST LAP TO GE14

Prime Minister Najib Abdul Razak has warned that Pakatan Harapan’s policies if implemented, would cause the country’s stock market and currency to crash.

This, he said, was due to Harapan’s various promises to abolish tolls, the goods and services tax (GST) and similar policies that would see the country take on an additional RM400 billion in debt.

He added this would result in the country’s debt to skyrocket from 50.8 percent to 80 percent of the gross domestic product.

“What will the effect be? The adverse effect is that the shares on Bursa Malaysia will fall, the country’s currency will be affected, the people will be affected,” he told audiences at a Permodalan Nasional Berhad (PNB) event in Batu Pahat today.

Najib added that PNB, which manages the Amanah Saham funds and which includes investment in the stock markets, will also be hurt.

Therefore this is not something to be played with, it should not be political fodder to win votes. We cannot be populist… we must be responsible,” he said.

Najib also repeated an analysis he watched on television saying that doing away with the GST would not necessarily bring down the prices of goods.

In contrast, Najib said that when he announced the BN manifesto, the ratings agencies had reacted positively.

“After I presented the BN manifesto on April 17 which has 14 core points, among the impact was that three ratings bodies revised the country’s growth with a more positive expectation.

“Among them (the impact) was the World Bank revising our growth from 5.4 percent to 5.6 percent. JP Morgan and Malaysian Institute Of Economic Research (MIER) were also more optimistic about the country’s growth.

“In contrast, they made no mention of the opposition manifesto. Why? Because there is no value in their manifesto,” he said.

– M’kini