Don’t plunder Petronas’ coffers, says Najib

PETALING JAYA: Former prime minister Datuk Seri Najib Abdul Razak urged the government yesterday not to “plunder” Petronas’ coffers and use its funds for bailouts.

He accused the government of being short-sighted and resorting to unsustainable measures to make up the shortfall with the zero-rating of the goods and services tax (GST).

“This is an approach that is not sustainable and is set to sacrifice the long-term (benefits) for the short-term. It will sacrifice the future in exchange for short-term financing,” Najib said in a Facebook post.

He said the Pakatan Harapan government recently stated that the short fall in revenue due to the abolition of GST would be made up by asking Petronas, Khazanah Nasional and Bank Negara Malaysia to pay higher dividends to the government.

The former prime minister pointed out that Petronas’ cash reserve had increased to RM164.7 billion as at the end of March, an increase of RM36.5 billion compared with RM128.2 billion at the end of last year.

He said this increase was due to the competitive price of oil, in addition to payment received from Aramco Saudi’s investment for the Rapid Pengerang project.

Najib said he was very careful in ensuring that Petronas did not have to pay dividends to the government beyond its requirements because he wanted to ensure there was adequate cash balance to meet Petronas’ expansion plans in key and downstream business sectors to become a world-class integrated energy company.

He said Petronas’ profits depend world prices of oil and gas, and over-dependence on high oil prices should be avoided.