KUALA LUMPUR: Titiwangsa member of parliament (MP) Datuk Seri Johari Ghani has lambasted opposition leader Datuk Seri Hamzah Zainuddin over the latter's claim that the nation's economy recorded highest growth after 22 years in 2022 under Perikatan Nasional's administration.
Johari, who is the chairman of government backbenchers said while the growth was factually correct, Hamzah (PN-Larut) must also explain the whole picture of the nation's economic situation to avoid confusion among the people.
He also cited Malaysia's economic growth of 3.1 per cent in 2021 was not sufficient to cover the 5.5 per cent shrink in 2020 while comparing the economic situation with neighbouring countries like Singapore and Indonesia.
"In 2021, Malaysia's economic growth was projected at 3.1 per cent, so this cannot cover the 5.5 per cent shrink in 2022.
"Unlike Singapore and Indonesia, they were able to cover the economic shrink in 2021 of 4.1 per cent and 2.1 per cent respectively.
"This was contributed following Singapore's economic growth of 7.6 per cent and Indonesia's 3.7 per cent in 2022," he said in Dewan Rakyat today, adding that other statistical figures must be taken into account before alluding to PN's success of gaining the highest economic growth.
Following this, Johari reminded the opposition to not confuse the people by cherry-picking the economic figures to suit their narrative.
"Malaysia (economic situation) has not yet recovered in 2021 and the 8.7 per cent mentioned by Larut was a low base effect.
"Hence, if we talk about such matters, it must be discussed as a whole and as an MP, we must be responsible in educating the people based on our debate as they do not understand such economic technicalities."
Earlier, Hamzah during his debate session told the August House that the current economic achievement in the country was due to the success of the PN-led government.
The Larut MP also claimed that in 2022, Malaysia's economy recorded the highest growth in 22 years when it grew 8.7 per cent.
He added that the growth was amongst the best in Southeast Asian countries surpassing Vietnam which recorded growth of 8.02 per cent, the Philippines at 7.6 per cent, Indonesia at 5.01 per cent, Singapore at 3.8 per cent, and Thailand at 3.4 per cent.