Najib questions Guan Eng’s national debt figure, HSR cost

KUALA LUMPUR: Former prime minister Datuk Seri Najib Tun Razak has questioned Finance Minister Lim Guan Eng’s figures on the country’s debt and cost of the Singapore-Kuala Lumpur High Speed Rail (HSR) project, claiming that they were inaccurate.

In a post on his Facebook page yesterday, Najib said he viewed Lim’s move as politically motivated.

“The focus should now be to safeguard our country’s economic growth, jobs and financial stability - not playing politics with inflated ‘guesstimates’ to provide an excuse for not delivering on Pakatan Harapan’s (PH) manifesto as per its promised timeline,” he said.

He said the Finance Minister of a country should provide accurate figures as the financial markets depend on these in making their decisions.

“As a result of the unnecessary spooking, the stock market has experienced 18 consecutive days of foreign outflows,” he said.

At the end of his post, Najib said though he accepted the loss of the coalition led by him to PH, the new government should focus on delivering their promises.

“A few months ago, the World Bank and the IMF (International Monetary Fund) reported that the then Barisan Nasional-led Malaysia will reach high-income nation status in as early as in three year’s time.

“The PH government should ensure we remain on course to meet this target,” he added.