Archive for category Economics
Our health and lives in exchange for FDIs
Posted by Kit in Economics, environment, Health on Thursday, 2 June 2011
Malaysiakini Your Say | Jun 2, 11
‘We sometimes marvel at how parents in some Asean countries are willing to sell their daughters into prostitution in return for a few dollars. Now we know.’
Panel: Waste won’t be 100% radiation-free
Swipenter: “It is not easy to do a study on the impact of health from a rare earth plant as it requires a large number of samples and a long duration of study to demonstrate statistically significant results.”
The rare plant in Bukit Merah is not proof or good enough to show the negative effects on health on a long-term basis? This panel is just a eyewash – they cannot even name one safe rare earth plant anywhere in the world.
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Reducing the political cost of liberalisation
By Hafiz Noor Shams | June 02, 2011
The Malaysian Insider
JUNE 2 — A price-control mechanism has its economic cost, on top of that associated with the current subsidy regime in place in Malaysia. There are also some political costs to the control.
In tight times when commodities are becoming dearer, any government that dares to reset retail prices upwards invites public wrath.
There was talk of an early general election, but the rumour machines now suggest that the election will be held only later. The Barisan Nasional-led federal government needs room to manoeuvre before renewing its mandate.
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Rakyat atau Kerajaan yang perlu berjimat?
– Mohd Yusof Hadhari
The Malaysian Insider
Jun 01, 2011
1 JUN — Sekarang kita semua perlu terus sedar bahawa penjimatan kini sudah menjadi wajib. Ia patut menjadi kata kunci kepada semua orang, bukan lagi kepada yang berpendapatan rendah sahaja. Kanapa saya berkata begitu. Harga gula sudah naik, harga minyak sudah berapa kali naik. Untuk harga barang yang lain harap tidak di naikan lagi, sekurang-kurangnya tidak dirasionalisasikan dalam masa terdekat. Harga petrol Ron95, diesel dan gas masih lagi bertahan, entah sampai bila subsidinya dapat diteruskan! Kita tunggu dan lihat.
Dan mulai kemarin (1 Jun), bagi pengguna elektrik antara 301kW dan 1000kW unit, tarifnya sudah dinaikan daripada 0.1 hingga 10 peratus, atau RM0.07 kepada RM30.30. Macam biasa, tenang semua. Harga gas asli di Malaysia masih lagi murah berbanding Negara jiran meskipun dengan kenaikan itu. Menurut kerajaan, sebelum atau selepas kenaikan, setelah dirasionalisasikan, harga di Negara ini masih murah jika di bandingkan dengan Thailand sebanyak RM18.23 setiap juta unit termal British (MMBtu). Indonesia RM21.04, Singapura RM43.32 dan Vietnam RM18.70.
Kerajaan kata kenaikan dalam bekalan gas ke sektor perindustrian adalah wajar, iaitu daripada RM15 setiap MMBtu kepada RM16.07 setiap MMBtu, jika dibandingkan dengan Negara serantau seperti Thailand (RM19.46), Indonesia (RM18.74) dan Singapura (RM113.45). Apa pun, yang jelas pengguna tidak akan selesa dengan sebarang kenaikan. Read the rest of this entry »
Current Bumi economic agenda not viable, says UDA chief
By Yow Hong Chieh | June 01, 2011
The Malaysian Insider
KUALA LUMPUR, June 1 — Putrajaya cannot keep throwing money at agencies tasked with furthering the Bumiputera economic agenda without consideration for profit unlike in the past, says Umno leader Datuk Nur Jazlan Mohamed.
The UDA Holdings Bhd chairman warned there will come a day when the government, whose finances were “being stretched over time”, would no longer be able to dole out grants to statutory bodies like Majlis Amanah Rakyat (Mara) as it does currently.
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Pass through… What??
By Shanker | June 01, 2011
The Malaysian Insider
JUNE 1 — I refer to the prime minister’s statement that independent power producers (IPPs) would not benefit from a power hike, as he’s quoted by The Malaysian Insider — “It is a pass-through tariff so nobody benefits.”
Er… what’s “pass through”? Could someone please explain in plain English, what is this new terminology? For the life of me, it sure seems to have escaped the notice of renowned economic and financial experts; don’t think you’d find it in anything that, say Paul Krugman, writes.
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Putrajaya’s inflation forecast ‘delusional’, says Guan Eng
By Yow Hong Chieh | June 01, 2011
The Malaysian Insider
KUALA LUMPUR, June 1 — The government is fooling itself and lying to the people if it thinks the recent round of subsidy cuts will have a negligible impact on inflation, Lim Guan Eng has said.
The DAP secretary-general said the 0.27 per cent inflation increase expected by the government following diesel subsidy cuts and power rate hikes was not borne out by the facts on the ground, where prices of basic necessities have gone up more rapidly.
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Khazanah MD ‘frustrated’ in regulated industries, reports FT
Posted by Kit in Economics, Finance, Good Governance on Tuesday, 31 May 2011
By Yow Hong ChiehMay 30, 2011 | The Malaysia Insider
KUALA LUMPUR, May 30 — Khazanah Nasional Bhd managing director Tan Sri Azman Mokhtar has admitted to being disappointed by his inability to trim fat from the portfolio he inherited in 2004 due to political interference, the Financial Times reported yesterday.
“We have had our frustrations, and there have been areas, mostly in the regulated sectors such as electricity, automobiles and aviation, where value has stagnated or even declined,” Azman (picture) told the international financial daily.
The Financial Times said that despite scoring a “crushing victory” in a US$3.6 billion (RM10.8 billion) takeover battle with India’s Fortis for Singapore healthcare group Parkway Holdings, Khazanah was still struggling to turn around companies in its legacy portfolio, which includes national carmaker Proton and Malaysia Airlines.
“Big questions remain about Khazanah’s ability to deal equally decisively with the rest of its portfolio, not least because of government opposition to radical surgery on any of its significant companies,” the report said. Read the rest of this entry »
Gov’t to announce power tariff hike on Monday
Malaysiakini | May 27, 11
The National Economic Council (NEC) has today approved an increase in the electricity tariff but details will only be announced on Monday.
The NEC convened today in Putrajaya at a meeting involving several cabinet ministers chaired by Prime Minister Najib Abdul Razak.
Read the rest of this entry »
When belts cannot be tightened anymore
Hsu Dar Ren
The Malaysian Insider
May 26, 2011
MAY 26 — I chatted with an old patient of mine after a consultation yesterday. He was probably suffering from the side effect of stress and not enough rest. I enquired about his job and he told me that he is working two jobs now; a daytime office job and part- time taxi driving at night. He had to do this to make ends meet.
So I told him what any doctor would tell his patient under these circumstances– to rest more.
Then he started to pour out his woes to me: that he has already been tightening his belt over the past few years, that he dreads to think of ways to tighten it some more, since the cost of living is creeping up and food prices are going to shoot up. He told me that there would come a point that the belt cannot be tightened anymore, and that point is fast being reached. Read the rest of this entry »
Minister: Fuel prices to stay, for now
By Kuek Ser Kuang Keng | May 25, 11
Malaysiakini
The government will maintain petrol, diesel and liquified petroluem gas (LPG) prices for now, said Domestic Trade, Co-operatives and Consumerism Minister Ismail Sabri.
This was decided by cabinet earlier this morning, said Ismail (left) during a press conference at about 3.45pm today.
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Subsidy cuts focus of today’s Cabinet meeting
Posted by Kit in Economics, Najib Razak on Wednesday, 25 May 2011
The Malaysian Insider | May 25, 2011
KUALA LUMPUR, May 25 — Subsidy cuts will top the agenda when Datuk Seri Najib Razak chairs the weekly Cabinet meeting today, with many speculating it will lead to hike for RON95 petrol and electricity rates.
Cabinet sources say the government has to trim the runaway subsidy bill which could balloon to RM21 billion if nothing is done.
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Subsidy reduction is not the only thing
By Hafiz Noor Shams | May 23, 2011
The Malaysian Insider
MAY 23 — Subsidy reduction will allow market forces to allocate resources more efficiently. Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib Razak was reported saying so recently to justify his administration’s commitment to subsidy reduction in the long run.
By doing so, the Najib administration claims to be an advocate of free market. A claim that is not necessarily true, however. At best, that claim reveals a selective belief in the free market.
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Guan Eng calls for Felda to bear sugar subsidy cuts
By Lee Wei Lian | May 23, 2011
The Malaysian Insider
KUALA LUMPUR, May 23 — Lim Guan Eng continued to pressure the government over subsidy cutbacks, saying that the government should look at the profitability of some of its government-owned businesses first before burdening the public with further price increases.
The DAP secretary-general said in a media statement today that the purported RM116.6 million in savings from raising sugar prices by 20 sen could be more than offset by the RM232 million in profit reported by MSM Malaysia Holdings Bhd, a subsidiary of government-owned Felda Global Ventures Holdings Sdn Bhd.
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Slash graft before cutting subsidies
Posted by Kit in Corruption, Economics, Prices on Sunday, 22 May 2011
Malaysiakini
May 22, 11
‘This illegal leakage is costing the nation to bleed, thus the reason behind the need to cut subsidies for the rakyat.’
Idris presses his case on cutting subsidies
Patriot: Subsidy cuts could be kept to a minimum so as to not burden the poor people struggling hard to earn a living to take care of their numerous domestic and external expenditures if there is proper and prudent governance and the elimination of servicing the cronies’ insatiable monetary wants.
What is being very prominently reported is the increase in government expenses on subsidies would be insurmountable based on current global trends and escalations.
However, the government never informs us how much could be saved if funds are properly utilised that could be ultimately channeled into covering some of the increases in the prices of commodities and foodstuff in order not to burden the poor. Read the rest of this entry »
DAP: BN opiates citizens to hide its sins
Posted by Kit in Economics, Najib Razak on Friday, 20 May 2011
Malaysiakini | May 20, 11
The DAP continued to harp on the “subsidy opium” notion raised by Prime Minister Najib Abdul Razak, saying the BN government has fed Malaysians with “opium” over the decades to hide the impact of its massive corruption, cronyism, leakages and maladministration.
National DAP publicity secretary Tony Pua described BN as the “drug pusher” that has fed “opium” to Malaysians in increasing doses over the years to mask the fact that the Malaysian economy has been unable to grow at the necessary pace and competitiveness.
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Opium and walking stick
Lim Sue Goan
The Malaysian Insider
May 19, 2011
MAY 19 — For the very first time, Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib Razak described the fuel subsidy as opium. His remarks were shocking as the people have been enjoying subsidies over the past few decades and would it mean that they have taken opium for decades?
Long-term opium use would cause irreversible damage to health and even death. The Chinese used to be called “The Sick Man of East Asia” during the Qing Dynasty as opium taking was a trend at that time.
If subsidies are opium to the national economy, the country must then first go through a painful process of rehabilitation before it can recover. And whether it would succeed, it all depends on the people’s determination. Read the rest of this entry »
Implications of GTP on ETP-2: Government facilitation
By Dr. Daphne Loke | May 18, 2011
The Malaysian Insider
May 18 — This article concerns the numerous private sector projects proposed for development and have been left to languish indefinitely in the hands of government departments at the proposal stage.
I remember applying for an IPTS license many years ago. The department concerned displayed on a notice board the list of applications which could not be processed due to lack of certain documents still pending from the applicant. Each applicant was provided with a complete checklist of documents required and a process flowchart for this activity.
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IPP subsidies under review
By Lee Wei Lian | May 19, 2011
The Malaysian Insider
KUALA LUMPUR, May 19 — The controversial gas subsidies for independent power producers (IPPs) are under review but no decision has been made yet, said Second Finance Minister Datuk Seri Ahmad Husni Mohamad Hanadzlah today.
“We have done a discussion and study under the Ministry of Energy, Green Technology and Water, EPU (Economic Planning Unit) and myself,” Husni told reporters at the sidelines of the 15th Malaysia Banking Summit today when asked if the subsidies will be relooked at. “We have to wait for the decision.”
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Poor have no shield from subsidy cuts, says Pua
By Yow Hong Chieh | May 19, 2011
The Malaysian Insider
KUALA LUMPUR, May 19 — Subsidy cuts will widen the gulf between rich and poor in Malaysia if the Najib administration does not cushion the impact of price hikes on lower income groups, DAP publicity chief Tony Pua has said.
He said the lack of measures to lessen the burden on the bottom 40 per cent of income earners would only worsen the already-high level of income inequality in Malaysia, which, according to the World Bank, was among the highest in Asia and close to South American levels.
Pua said despite repeated price hikes to key items like sugar, petrol and diesel, the government had yet to fulfil its pledge to implement programmes like a cash rebate for motorcycles under 250cc and cars under 1,000cc as well as one for those hit by reductions in food subsidies.
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Malaysia slips in economic competitiveness
By Yow Hong Chieh
May 18, 2011 | The Malaysian Insider
KUALA LUMPUR, May 18 — Malaysia fell six slots from 10th to 16th in a closely-watched international ranking of economic competitiveness despite recent government assurances that it was winning the fight against graft while improving accountability and transparency.
The Institute of Management Development (IMD) 2011 World Competitive Rankings released yesterday also saw Singapore knocked off its perch by this year’s joint leaders Hong Kong and the United States.
Even as the US regained the top spot after losing it for the first time in decades to Singapore last year, Malaysia is now only two places above the spot it occupied two years ago after dropping the most in ranking out of the top 20 countries. Read the rest of this entry »
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