Najib: Wow, the economy has changed within two weeks

PETALING JAYA: Datuk Seri Najib Tun Razak is perplexed over the sudden change of the Government’s opinion over the state of Malaysia’s economy.

“I’m curious to know how the national economy quickly turned from what has been claimed before GE14 as an economy in crisis and a failure into a strong and solid economy now.

“All this within just two weeks?” he asked on Facebook yesterday.

The former prime minister was commenting on a news report in The Star on Friday, which quoted Finance Minister Lim Guan Eng as saying that the Malaysian economy remained strong with solid fundamentals despite the need to improve the current fiscal condition.

Lim was asked to comment on how the Government intended to restore investors’ confidence given the announcement that the current debt-to-GDP ratio stood at 80%.

Earlier, Najib slammed the Government for spooking the markets with a “RM1 trillion national debt” announcement. Later, it corrected the figure to RM686.8bil.

In a post, veteran journalist Datuk A. Kadir Jasin said Pakatan Harapan should focus on reforming its thinking and action.

In a blog post titled “More Work, Less Talk”, Kadir said there was no need for Pakatan to scream at the top of its lungs anymore since it is already the Government.

He reminded Pakatan ministers and their officials to be careful when issuing media statements.

“Lim’s mistake was that he has forgotten to think thoroughly the implications of revealing such information to the public,” Kadir said.

He said Lim had “played up” the national debt issue.

“Political mileage is not the same as economic mileage. What is good for politics might not be good for the economy and the market.

“For Lim, especially for someone whom I have known for a long time and who has always been civil to me despite our differences in political ideology, please be careful in making statements and announcements,” he added.