Nurul Izzah said sending out misleading numbers would aggravate Malaysia’s already-hurting FDI rates. — file pic
Calling the six per cent target frequently cited by Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib Razak “misleading”, the PKR lawmaker pointed out that Malaysia had to book at least nine per cent growth per annum to achieve RM1.7 trillion in gross national income (GNI) in 10 years from current levels.
“It was publicly announced that the Economic Transformation Plan (ETP) will only provide 74 per cent or RM1.258 trillion of the estimated RM1.7 trillion GNI in 2020 against our RM660 billion GNI for 2010 which required the quoted six per cent annual growth rate,” she wrote in an article titled, “Fantasy or Fallacy: ETP 6pc Annual Growth Rate Calculations”.
“However, in reality, Malaysia as a whole, when ETP plus non-ETP contributions are calculated for the 10 years needed, it would indicate that it should have been disclosed that we need a nine per cent per annum growth rate to achieve the RM 1.7 trillion GNI in 2020.
“I call upon the government to set the matter straight and immediately announce if Malaysia actually needs a nine per cent annual growth rate to achieve the RM1.7 trillion GNI target in 2020... We need to know the facts and the truth now even if the prime minister is still in New York supposedly to tell the ‘truth’ to the world on Malaysia’s New Economic Model and 1 Malaysia concept.”
Nurul Izzah cited Najib’s apparent admission at the 21st Multimedia Super Corridor (MSC) Malaysia Implementation Council meeting held on November 9, 2009 that the economy needed to expand by over nine per cent every year for 10 years in order to qualify as a high-income nation by World Bank standards.
“We aim to be a developed nation by the year 2020 and we are looking to more than double our per capita gross national income from US$7,000 (RM24,500) to at least US$17,000 by then in order to qualify as a high-income nation according to World Bank classifications,” Najib had said in his opening speech then.
“This would also mean that Malaysia has to grow its GDP by over nine per cent annually until the year 2020.”
However, the premier denied uttering those words only hours later at a press conference, contending that he had settled for six per cent annual growth as nine per cent was “not realistic”.
Nurul Izzah argued that Najib’s “flip-flopping” served only to cast doubt on other official statistics like the inflation index and poverty incidence, and decrease investor confidence in Malaysia.
“The people deserve to know especially with the upcoming Budget announcement to be made in Parliament in October,” she said, adding that the government should avoid being misleading as doing so would further harm private sector confidence, given that foreign direct investments have slipped by over 80 per cent in 2009.
“We do not need another Pinocchio to lead a sinking nation.”
The Najib administration is looking to the private sector to contribute most of the RM1.38 trillion needed to drive the ETP, which is aimed at transforming Malaysia into a high-income nation by 2020.
Sixty per cent of all investments are expected to come from private companies, with 32 per cent from government-linked companies (GLCs) and the remaining eight per cent from public funding.
The government is banking on the ETP’s smorgasbord of 131 entry point projects (EPPs) and 60 business opportunities to generate an additional US$250 billion for the economy by 2020, taking the nation’s GNI to at least US$523 billion from US$188 billion in 2009. The rest of the growth is expected to come from other sectors.
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