(Oct 23): PKR's Rafizi Ramli has poured cold water on Putrajaya's RM267.2 billion Budget 2016, saying that the economy will suffer without credible leadership.

Rafizi, who is Pandan MP, said the budget did not touch on core matters such as the confidence crisis faced by Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib Razak.

“The biggest question of the economy is the confidence in the leadership of the country.

“You can work out whatever numbers you want for next year, and you can present in this budget howsoever you want to distribute the numbers. But, without credible leadership, the economy is going to tumble and it is unlikely many of the projections will be achieved," he told reporters at the Parliament lobby after Najib presented Budget 2016 this evening.

The PKR secretary-general expressed his worries for the people as he estimated that nearly RM20 billion for next year would be from additional taxes from the public.

He said the numbers clearly showed that there was a big shift towards taxing the public more rather than relying on corporate or institutional income for the country.

"I am worried because when he gave his speech, I saw a lot of projections for tax collection next year. My estimate is RM20 billion in extra taxes will be collected from the public, and that is the biggest take of this budget.

"As we go into crisis mode next year, the public will pay heavily for it."

He also said the Najib started off tabling the budget in a defensive manner when he tried to maintain that Malaysian economy was not in crisis.

However, Rafizi said that the country was about to enter a crisis if things did not improve and he added that was why Najib addressed the matter in the first part of the budget speech. – The Malaysian Insider