This article first appeared in The Edge Financial Daily on April 10, 2019

KUALA LUMPUR: As the Pakatan Harapan government comes close to concluding its first year in office, a study by a think tank found that almost a third of 192 economic promises made by the new coalition in its election manifesto are either fulfilled or on track to being achieved.

In the first edition of its new report card survey called Project Pantau, the Institute for Democracy and Economic Affairs (IDEAS) said notable successes are:

• moving quickly to implement key promises such as abolishing the goods and services tax;

• allocating significant resources to support small and medium-sized enterprises and encouraging technological adoption;

• significantly improving the transparency of the budget and the government’s overall financial position; and

• creating an ambitious plan to fight corruption, including important reforms in the public procurement system.

“In many of these areas, the real test will be implementation but it is encouraging that the government is on track to deliver these important reforms,” said the think tank’s democracy and governance unit executive Faiz Zaidi.

“The government should maintain momentum in these areas and ensure these successes are communicated clearly to the public to build confidence in the government’s performance,” he added.