The 2nd Stimulus Package

The world’s economic problem is manufactured in America, and being the biggest economy of the world has assumed a global dimension.

Image taken from Google images

There is lack of detailed information about how the economic slowdown is going to affect Malaysia.

The various sectors in our country will be affected in various degree of severity – the manufacturing sector probably is the worst affected.

Last year, the government has announced the 1^st stimulus package of RM7 billion. However, there is a lack of public information about the details of the package. Any delay in its implementation will not have the desired effect of stimulating the target sector.

The government intends to announce the 2^nd stimulus package. Lets hope it should be done early with a bigger package.

Our government revenue is at about RM150 billion a year and the RM7 billion package as announced is too small to have the desired effect.

There should be less worry about budget deficit for 2009 and 2010. When the economy picks up, we would think of how to balance the budget.

There is still a lot of wastage of government funds for non-productive activities. While we spend our way out of the recession, resources should be for productive economic activities.

Meanwhile, I cannot figure out why the review of the electricity tariff should be delayed to July.

The reduction of electricity tariff and gas prices should be done immediately as higher costs had put pressure on companies.

There is a reduction in demand and coupled with increased costs, a lot of companies may have cash flow problem.

I understand in energy intensive industries, energy costs account for about 20% of production costs. Electricity tariffs were increased by 26.6% and natural gas price for industrial users was also increased by 71% last year.

Now that the petrol price has dropped drastically, any delay in review of the above prices is unjustified.

Government should be more sensitive towards the needs of the industries at this time and assist them so that they are able to pull through this difficult period.

Let’s hope that the 2^nd stimulus package is worth the wait.

横扫世界各国的经济危机源自美国。作为世界最大经济体，它的影响力冲击全球。

到底经济萧条对马来西亚影响有多大，迄今我们还不得而知，因为这方面的资讯严重匮乏。

国内各领域受影响的程度各异，而制造业面对的冲击力最大。

去年，政府已经宣布第一期的70亿令吉“刺激经济配套”。然而，公众却缺乏有关配套的详情，也无法让面对冲击的领域取得预期效果。

政府打算宣布第二期的刺激配套。希望这将是一个更大的计划，且可以早日付诸落实。

政府一年收入约1千500亿令吉，相比之下，要取得预期成效，去年宣布的70亿令吉数额未免太少。

其实，我们不应过于担心2009年及2010年会有赤字预算案。当经济复苏，我们就会设法如何去平衡预算。

我认为，仍有很多政府资金浪费在那些没有生产力的活动。在我们改变花费方式以抵消经济低迷冲击的同时，应该把既有资源用在有生产力的经济活动。

因此，我想不通为何要迟至7月才检讨电费。当局应该即刻调降电费及燃气收费，因为高企的成本已经对各公司构成压力。

此外，基于人们的需求减少，加上成本不断攀上，很多公司可能面对现金流转的问题。

据我了解，在能源密集的工业，能源占成本总额的20%。去年，工业用户的电费及天然气价格分别上涨了26.6%及71%。目前汽油价格已经大幅度下调，因此没有道理要延迟检讨以上种种收费。

相反的，政府应该要更了解各工业当下的需求及给予协助，让他们有能力度过这个难关。

我希望第二期的刺激经济配套会一项是值得期待的喜讯。