Provide accurate facts, figures, Azmin told

SELANGOR Mentri Besar Datuk Seri Mohamed Azmin Ali should have provided accurate facts and figures in presenting the 2017 state budget to avoid confusing the public.

Budiman Mohd Zohdi (pix) (BN-Sungai Panjang) said accusations against the federal government for failing to address structural economic problems and reduced global competitiveness are untrue.

Malaysia is faring well in international business and economic rankings, including the World Economic Forum’s (WEF) global competitiveness report, he added.

“WEF ranked Malaysia in 25th place (out of 138 countries), 20th for goods market efficiency, 13th for financial market development, 20th for business sophistication, and 30th for innovation, infrastructure and market-level efficiency.

“From these facts, we can see his accusations that our country is not (economically) competitive is untrue,” he told a press conference at the state assembly’s annex building yesterday.

Budiman, who is also Sungai Besar MP, defended the federal government’s debt of RM655.7 billion or 53.2% of GDP, which is under the stipulated limit of 55%.

He referred to the RM3.04 billion investments involving 130 approved projects that Selangor received up till June 2016, saying the figures are incomplete.

“He (Azmin) did not mention in his speech that RM1.26 billion is from foreign investments while RM1.78 billion is from domestic sources.

“Selangor does not have the most investments in Malaysia either. Johor is at the top with RM5.1 billion, followed by Sarawak, Penang, then only Selangor,” said Budiman, adding the state opposition has no issue with Selangor’s economic performance but asked that accurate facts and figures be presented.

He repeated the opposition’s assertion that Selangor’s Budget 2017 is too similar to the federal budget and is also populist, which is why he rejected it during his debate.

However, he said, this is not necessarily a bad thing and asked Azmin to merely be fair to the federal government.