‘BUDGET STAYS, EVEN IF OIL IS US$52 OR US$72’
Guan Eng stands by Budget in response to Najib’s caution
THE government will not recalibrate the 2019 Budget even if there is a drop in oil prices, said Finance Minister Lim Guan Eng. “At the moment, there will be no (budget recalibration) even if crude oil prices drop to US$52 (RM218) or US$72 per barrel,” he said yesterday.
Lim was asked whether the government would revise the 2019 Budget after crude oil prices dropped to US$65 per barrel.
Former prime minister Datuk Seri Najib Razak had cautioned the Pakatan Harapan (PH) government against formulating and announcing its 2019 Budget based on the Brent crude oil price of US$72.
Najib had said the previous Barisan Nasional government tabled its budget based on the crude oil price of US$52.
“I wish to remind the current government that the global crude oil price is too volatile. “Whether it will go up or down, nobody can tell. This is because of geopolitical factors nobody can anticipate,” Najib said.
On the recent Moody’s Investors Services rating on Petronas, Lim said: “There is no downgrade of Petronas rating as it is only an outlook.”
He expressed relief that Malaysia did not face a sovereign ratings downgrade.
“Of course, we have to work very hard to ensure this will be maintained. We know it is challenging because of our fiscal deficit,” he said.
Last week, Moody’s downgraded its outlook on Petronas from “stable” to “negative”.
It affirmed Petronas’ “A1” domestic issuer and foreign currency senior unsecured ratings, but changed the outlook. The rating agency also affirmed the “A1” for Petronas Capital Ltd’s senior unsecured notes and the US$15 billion medium-term note programme, as well as sukuk issued through Petronas Global Sukuk Ltd, but changed the outlook.