KUALA LUMPUR: The government will not recalibrate the 2019 Budget even if there is a drop in crude oil prices, said Finance Minister Lim Guan Eng.
"At the moment, there will be no (recalibration of the budget) even if crude oil prices drop to US$D52 or US$D72 per barrel," he told reporters at the Parliament lobby here today.
Lim was asked whether the government would revise the 2019 Budget after crude oil prices dropped to US$65 per barrel.
Former prime minister Datuk Seri Najib Razak today cautioned the Pakatan Harapan (PH) government against formulating and announcing its 2019 Budget based on the Brent crude oil price of US$72.
Najib had said the previous Barisan Nasional government tabled its annual budget based on the crude oil price of US$52.
“I wish to remind the current government that the global crude oil price is too volatile. Whether it will go up or down, nobody can tell. This is because of geopolitical factors nobody can anticipate," Najib was quoted as saying.
On Moody’s Investors Services rating on Petronas, Lim said: "There is no downgrade of Petronas rating as it is only an outlook.”
Lim also expressed relief that Malaysia did not face threats of a sovereign rating downgrade.
"Of course, we have to work very hard to ensure this will be maintained... we know it is challenging because of our fiscal deficit,” he said, adding the government would ensure that the debt was rationalised.
Last week, Moody’s Investors Service affirmed Petroliam Nasional Bhd's (Petronas) A1 domestic issuer and foreign currency senior unsecured ratings, but changed the outlook from stable to negative.
The rating agency also affirmed the A1 rating for Petronas Capital Ltd’s senior unsecured notes and the US$15bil medium-term note (MTN) programme as well as sukuk issued through Petronas Global Sukuk Ltd, but changed its outlook to negative from stable.
Moody’s had said the rating action was due to the government’s announcement that Petronas would be paying RM26bil in dividends in 2018 and RM54bil (inclusive of a one-off special dividend of RM30bil) in 2019.