Second Finance Minister Datuk Johari Ghani Abdul Ghani re-affirmed the freeze in the development of high-rise luxury residential projects.
KUALA LUMPUR: Finance Minister II Datuk Seri Johari Abdul Ghani believes government finances can be balanced by 2022 or 2023 on a combination of stable economic growth, prudent spending and managing civil service pensions and emoluments.
“Our original target was 2020 but probably we need another two to three years,” he said, pointing out that cutting spending too much will have a negative impact on the economy.
Johari explained that the delay in getting the budget balanced was due to oil price fluctuations. When the target to get the budget balanced was announced, oil price was trading at US$90 to US $100 per barrel but oil prices have fallen as low as US$40 before recovering to around US$60.
He said earlier at a question and answer session hosted by CIMB Group
Holdings Bhd chairman Datuk Seri Nazir Razak that govt spending was needed to stimulate growth.
Johari said the present civil service workforce will be maintained and that there will be no job cuts.
He added that the ever growing civil service pensions and emoluments will be managed on fewer hirings.
Malaysia has been reducing its fiscal deficit for the past couple of years.
It targets to narrow its fiscal deficit to 2.8% of gross domestic product (GDP) under Budget 2018, from an estimated 3.0% in 2017.
In 2016, Malaysia’s fiscal deficit-to-GDP ratio stood at 3.1%, compared with 3.2% in 2015 and 3.4% in 2014.
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