Politicians, leaders to blame for weakening country’s economy, says Rafizi

 

Economy minister Rafizi Ramli said poor governance meant that the root causes of the country’s economic problems were not resolved.

PETALING JAYA: Economy minister Rafizi Ramli says there is a need to acknowledge that politicians and leaders have played a role in weakening the country’s economy.

Poor governance meant that the root causes of the country’s economic problems were not resolved, he said.

“There is a need to accept the fact that politicians and leaders are to blame.

“The likes of myself, Syahir and the other politicians should apologise to all Malaysians,” he said, referring to Bachok MP Syahir Sulaiman.

Rafizi said this during a televised debate on the economy with the PAS politician.

He said some of the leaders from the current administration and their predecessors were not focused or trained in managing the economy.

And this led to the country being unable to overcome structural problems earlier.

Rafizi said there were three main structural problems.

Firstly, Malaysia is falling behind its competitors due to its heavy reliance on industries such as plantations and oil and gas.

“These industries were so profitable we grew complacent with the development of other industries.

“As a result, we didn’t increase the wages in the manufacturing and services industries.”

The failure to increase wages led to low wages and salaries not increasing in tandem with the rising costs of goods and services. - FMT