Long fore-play to a stimulus
BLOGGING FROM PARLIAMENT
UPDATED VERSION. Beginning today at the Parliament, ministers are taking turns to answer questions raised during motion of thanks to the Agong's Royal Address.
A while ago, Second Finance Minister Nor Mohamed Yakcop told the Dewan Rakyat that of the RM7 billion pledged for the economic stimulus plan announced in November, only RM567.9 million had been spent thus far -- after four months had gone by.
That works out to roughly 9% of the pledged money that had gone into the system for pump-priming.
Chief culprit for the delay is the paralysing red tape despite the existence of PEMUDAH and what-not backdropped against Malaysia's steady slide into actual recession.
I blogged yesterday that Malaysia's GDP growth shrank to 0.1% in Q4 last year, and final fine-tuned analysis may indicate a number worse-off.
In comparison, for the same period in Q42008, our neighbours Indonesia and the Philippines registered a quarterly GDP growth of 5.2% and 4.5%, respectively.
Where has the money gone?
Interestingly, all MPs in the parliament chamber have now been primed for the second stimulus package, code-named Mini Budget, slated for March 10.
A month ago (January 22, 2009), I submitted two questions to the Prime Minister -- oral and written -- asking as to who the beneficiaries actually are for Stimulus One of RM7 billion. I am still waiting for the answers to whichever question that comes first.
DEWAN RAKYAT MESYUARAT PERTAMA, PENGGAL KEDUA
PARLIMEN KEDUA BELASPERTANYAAN-PERTANYAAN BAGI JAWAB LISAN
( 1 ) YB TUAN JEFF OOI (JELUTONG) minta Perdana Menteri menyatakan sejauh mana dana Stimulus Package sejumlah RM7 billion yang diumumkan pada November 2008 telah dibiayai setakat ini, dan sila berikan butiran terperinci bagi pihak-pihak penerima dana tersebut.DEWAN RAKYAT MESYUARAT PERTAMA, PENGGAL KEDUA
PARLIMEN KEDUA BELASPERTANYAAN-PERTANYAAN BAGI JAWAB BERTULIS
2. YB TUAN JEFF OOI (JELUTONG) minta Perdana Menteri menyatakan dengan butiran lengkap bagaimana golongan berpendapatan rendah (RM401 hingga RM720 sebulan) boleh dapat turut menikmati hikmat Stimulus Package 1 berjumlah RM7 billion, dan menerusi Stimulus Package seterusnya?
This afternoon, Nor Mohamed only mentioned at the Dewan Rakyat that the RM567.9 million spent had been allocated for 8,474 projects. Details unknown.
Comments
Cannot hurry too much, otherwise every project will be awarded on direct negotiation basis and the whole package will leak like a sieve.
Posted by: cskok8![[TypeKey Profile Page]](http://www.jeffooi.my/nav-commenters.gif)
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March 2, 2009 07:58 PM
Tak payah fore-play, straight to the climax !!
...part of the RM7 billion are now in the hands of Kementerian officers waiting to disburse to contractors who will implement "people-friendly" projects... contractors who are obviously kuncu-kuncu UMNOputras.
So after deducting their share of their "commision", the structures will be up... made of sub-standard materials of course since the sub-sub contractors will need to cut the edges with whatever alloacation for the project that's left...
LO AND BEGOLD, PROJEK BN beres dilaksanakan, dirasmikan oleh YBhg Menteri xxx... everybody applauds, and main-stream press lauds the BN Govt who "cares"...
YAH !! RIGGGHHT !! Takes care of their UMNOputras who will laugh all the way to the bank with their hard-earned "commision" !!!
Posted by: beruangyogi![[TypeKey Profile Page]](http://www.jeffooi.my/nav-commenters.gif)
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March 3, 2009 09:34 AM
I completely understand what you are saying, and like you, I am very interested to know the whereabouts of the RM7bil announced in the first stimulus package. We should not settle for anything less than a comprehensive account for how the money has been spent.
However to be fair, do bear in mind that Singapore's GDP for 2008 grew by 1.1% while ours expanded by 4.8%. The latest quarterly figure for Singapore showed a decline of 16.4% whilst ours posted a positive growth of 0.1%.
Given these numbers, is it fair to compare them and conclude that the Malaysia's economy is better-run than Singapore's? Most people would not agree with that conclusion because there are many other factors that should be taken into account. One of them is the economic profile of a country and how that determines its performance in a global financial crisis. With that said, your juxtaposition of Malaysia's Q4 GDP figures with Philippines's and Indonesia's is at best naive. For example, consumer electronics exports account for a greater portion of the Malaysian and Singaporean GDPs compared to those of Philippines and Indonesian's. Accordingly a slump in demand for such goods affects the former two economies more than the latter two.
JEFF OOI says: You missed the point. Badly-managed economies relative to Malaysia like Indonesia and the Philippines have proven more resilient in the same quarter. Is this their catching up with Malaysia despite being the sick-men of South East Asia for a while? This fact you can't ignore. That Singapore had retreated -- a given fact -- and it may retreat to negative 8% this year is a fact and opportunity that Malaysia should capitalise on so that the chasm in global competitiveness between us and them can be overcome to our favour once economy recovers.
I have great respect for you. However, I think it is more important to be fair than to mislead a point in order to win an argument. Thank you.
Posted by: skt![[TypeKey Profile Page]](http://www.jeffooi.my/nav-commenters.gif)
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March 3, 2009 06:58 PM