Thursday 28 Mar 2024
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KUALA LUMPUR (Jan 2): Finance Minister Lim Guan Eng and Economic Affairs Minister Datuk Seri Mohamed Azmin Ali have been performing their duties well after Pakatan Harapan took over Putrajaya, according to Prime Minister Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamad.

Although Pakatan Harapan had inherited a financially troubled government from Barisan Nasional, both Lim and Azmin have successfully drafted the Budget 2019 despite the country being heavily indebted, said Dr Mahathir in an interview with Sin Chew Daily published today.

"Considering the country's current situation, I think both of them have done quite well. We initially thought that (Budget 2019) will have a very big deficit, but it is not as big as we had expected," he said.

Pakatan Harapan has been doing everything it can to reduce government debts since it took over, according to Dr Mahathir.

He also spoke about why he appointed Lim and Azmin to their respective positions.

"If we let Guan Eng be in charge of everything (finance and economic affairs), the Malays will not be happy, but if we let Azmin take care of everything, Guan Eng will not be happy," he quipped.

Dr Mahathir said while both finance and economic affairs are important positions, and he has broken the tradition by appointing Lim as the country's first Chinese Finance Minister after more than 40 years.

"I have broken a tradition that lasted for many years by appointing Guan Eng as Finance Minister, the last one was Tun Tan Siew Sin, after Siew Sin there was no Chinese Finance Minister. But I chose to appoint Guan Eng, partly because of his track record in managing Penang. To strike a balance, I have to let Azmin manage economic affairs," he said.

"Of course, new ministers are learning now, and they are government now, government needs to be business friendly, we want them (businesses) to earn more, and 25% of that will go to the government's coffers," he added.

Dr Mahathir said currently, local businesses are generally pessimistic about the country's economic outlook because the global economy is slowing down, exacerbated by the trade war between the US and China, which has affected Malaysia as well.

"The boycott on palm oil is also affecting us negatively," he said.

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