Budget 2014 to focus on reducing fiscal deficit, building resilience: Najib

OCTOBER 10, 2013

The Budget 2014 to be tabled on Oct. 25 will focus on reducing the fiscal deficit and enhancing national resilience, said Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib Razak.

Najib (pic), who is also Finance Minister, said strengthening the national economy would enable Malaysia to be more resilient and achieve reasonable growth in an uncertain global economy.

"We will focus on strengthening our economy so that we can last. One important element is enhancing national resilience," he told Malaysian journalists covering the 23rd Asean Summit and Related Summits which ended in Bandar Seri Begawan, Brunei today.

He was responding to a question on whether the fiscal standoff in the United States, which has to resolve its debt ceiling issue by Oct. 17, had been taken into account in Budget 2014.

Najib said the situation regarding the standoff is fluid and a compromise could be reached at the last minute.

"That's what we are hoping for (a compromise), but whatever the outcome, we hope America's growth is not affected or, even worse, its economy crashes," he said.

Najib said an American economic crisis could affect global economic growth, making it difficult to predict what would happen next.

On the request by the Congress of Unions of Employees in the Public and Civil Services (CUEPACS) for a two-month bonus and higher allowances for 1.4 million civil servants this year in the wake of the recent fuel subsidy cuts, Najib said the matter should be further studied in detail.

"I don't want to say anything now. I have to look at the government's accounts first. We are on track to reduce the fiscal deficit, and we want to complete whatever programmes for the people's well-being," he added.

Najib said leaders at the Summit took note of the current global economic situation, with trade seen growing at a slower rate in 2013 and global economic growth at around three per cent.

However, he said, the good news is the Asia Pacific region emerging as the fastest-growing region, making it the world's growth engine.

"In my intervention, I stated the need to be given clear signals on the quantitative easing to be carried out by the United States, especially by the Federal Reserve. But the timing and total amount to be involved in the quantitative easing are not clear, contributing somewhat to the volatility in emerging economies," he said. – Bernama, October 10, 2013.