Pakatan to table alternative budget with focus on fiscal reforms, GST

Tue, 24 Sep 2013 08:30:00 GMT

BY JENNIFER GOMEZ

SEPTEMBER 24, 2013

Pakatan Rakyat (PR) will table an alternative budget to pre-empt Budget 2014 to be tabled by Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib Razak next month.

The coalition said this was to enable the people to assess which party is better at managing the country's resources.

DAP's Bukit Mertajam Member of Parliament Steven Sim (pic) said one of the issues PR will address is the goods and services tax (GST).

"We will talk about it over the next few days based on an analysis of what the budget needs to contain. And we will also be talking about the GST," he said at the Parliament lobby today.

Sim in a joint statement with PKR's Lembah Pantai MP Nurul Izzah Anwar and PAS's Kuala Krai MP Dr Hatta Ramli, said the alternative budget would focus on fiscal responsibility through budget reforms, as well as tightening of government procurement and spending rules to cut down waste, leakages and excessive costs.

Referring to the Supplementary Supply Bill tabled in Parliament yesterday to seek additional funds, Sim said the government has been tabling deficit Budgets for the past 16 years.

He said at the present rate, the country will hit the debt ceiling of 55% by the end of this year, adding that the country's debt to GDP currently stood at 53%. - September 24, 2013.