SINGAPORE (May 3): In a TV interview on April 11, UBS economist Kelvin Tay blamed “political paralysis” in Malaysia for landing the country in an economic bind that includes a “current account deficit” of higher than 3.4%.

Tay also said that abolishing the Goods and Services Tax (GST) — which was to have brought in RM36 billion (S$11.8 billion) in revenue for the government in 2019 — was “just a bad move, because it means the country is going to be very, very reliant on oil”.

The interview went viral and Tony Pua, Malaysian finance minister Lim Guan Eng’s political secretary, went on the warpath. Pua pointed out that it was, in fact, Malaysia’s fiscal account that was in deficit, not its current account.

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