Anwar (centre) and Pakatan leaders speak to the press after the presentation of Budget 2012.
Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim accused the government today of copying the alternative budget proposed by his Pakatan Rakyat on Tuesday and making unrealistic projections for the next year in what is “clearly an election ploy.”
The opposition leader told reporters in an immediate reaction that the Barisan Nasional (BN) government “has promised everything on earth but you don’t talk about increasing revenues or transparency.”
“It is unrealistic. It is clearly an election ploy. In the last 10 years, growth, deficit and foreign investment figures have always been proven to be wrong,” the former deputy prime minister said.
He added that Datuk Seri Najib Razak had tabled a budget that “copied Pakatan Rakyat’s but they cannot implement it.”
The prime minister said in his speech today that the budget deficit is expected to fall to 4.7 per cent on the back of GDP growth of 5-5.5 per cent.
But analysts have said that Putrajaya’s projection for economic growth is too high, while the opposition has pencilled in just a 4-4.5 per cent growth in its alternative budget.
Najib also pledged today wage increases for the civil service worth RM2 billion and a RM2.5 billion direct assistance package to poor households and students.
This assistance package will see the government hand out RM500 in cash to households with a monthly income of less than RM3,000, as well as a RM100 cash aid and RM200 in book vouchers for students.
The federal opposition had called for RM5.9 billion and RM6.9 billion to be set aside for civil service pay hikes and direct assistance respectively.
