20 February 2020

Economic stimulus package: Among the earliest but still on the way!

The very next day after Finance Minister Lim Guan Eng proudly claimed that “Malaysia is among the earliest to launch a stimulus package”, Singapore on 18 February 2020 came out with TWO support packages to cushion the economic slump brought by the novel coronavirus.

These are: the SGD4 billion - Stabilisation and Support Package, and the lesser SGD1.6 billion - Care and Support Package. The former shall encompass economy-wide measures for workers and businesses; while the latter includes aid for living expenses, especially for low-income families.

Here in Malaysia, despite calls from various firms and organisations, the government remains aloof in choosing to wait up till 27 February for the announcement. Why is that?

Earlier, Lim Guan Eng stated that the government could not fully reimburse losses suffered by the affected sectors because there are inherent risks in doing business. This is merely passing the buck.

The government must oversee and administer the nation’s business environment. In the event of a crisis, dismissing their claims with the rhetoric of “inherent risk” is utterly irresponsible.

Comparing the efficiency of the Health Ministry and the Finance Ministry, we can see the stark difference where one is presenting its statistics. At the same time, the other remains in a trance of blame-shifting, and the stimulus package remains unseen.

Singapore chose to be straightforward in addressing the COVID-19 outbreak, where the Singapore premier even acknowledged that the current epidemic is even more severe compared to the SARS outbreak in 2003, and does not dismiss the possibility that Singapore may face an economic crisis.

But our Finance Minister says that the coronavirus will inevitably affect all sectors in the nation, yet he also dismisses the possibility of a recession due to the outbreak. That sounds convincing.

Nicole Wong Siaw Ting

MCA National Youth Chairperson

-MCA online-