PUTRAJAYA: Malaysia has almost RM2 trillion of savings from Bank Negara Malaysia, Tabung Haji, Retirement Fund Inc (KWAP) and the Employee Provident Fund (EPF), said interim Prime Minister Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamad.
He said it will make use of some of these savings to disburse the Economic Stimulus Package.
“In EPF it has almost RM1 trillion which is huge and there are also other savings that we can pay for the Stimulus Package,” he told a press conference after announcing the Economic Stimulus Package totalling RM20 billion here today.
He also said the country has enough money at the moment and would only issue a bond to fund the Stimulus Package if it deemed necessary.
The government introduced the 2020 Economic Stimulus Package to safeguard the economy from impacts associated with the COVID-19 outbreak.
Asked on the disbursement methods for the economic package as there is no sitting cabinet due to the country’s political developments, he said, it would be carried out accordingly to established bureaucratic procedures.
On whether the government still committed to fiscal consolidation post-economic stimulus package, he replied: “Yes we are”.
In an earlier announcement, Dr Mahathir said due to the global economic scenario and impacts from COVID-19 outbreak, Malaysia’s gross domestic product (GDP) growth in 2020 is estimated to be in the range of 3.2 per cent to 4.2 per cent.
“I believe, the economic stimulus package will enable the Malaysian economy to achieve the highest point of the range.
“In formulating the stimulus package, the government exercised prudence with respect to its fiscal position. As a result of the stimulus package, the fiscal deficit is estimated to slightly increase to 3.4 per cent of GDP compared to the original target of 3.2 per cent of GDP,” he said.
In 2003, the government introduced a stimulus package of RM8.1 billion to boost the economy that was hit by the Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome (SARS) pandemic. -- BERNAMA