Malaysia’s heavy reliance on income earned from oil and gas resources is worrying and may even turn “suicidal” for the country in the long run, a federal opposition lawmaker said today.
Kuala Terengganu PAS MP Datuk Raja Kamarul Bahrin Shah Raja pointed out that global crude oil prices have been on a steady decline over the past few months, which he said should indicate to Putrajaya the hazards of relying on a single source of income.
“About 40 per cent of the annual federal budget depends on oil revenue… and about 90 per cent of, my home state, Terengganu’s budget is reliant on the same.
“This kind of planning is suicidal,” the lawmaker said.
“We have neglected agriculture, we have neglected industry. Where is the government going to go for alternative revenue?” he asked.
Raja Kamarul, who was speaking to reporters during a press conference at the Parliament lobby, said, however, that it was too late to diversify the government’s income sources.
“But,” he added, “We still need to look for alternative source of revenue. Don’t be a lazy government.”
Fuel prices for the RON95 petrol and diesel rose to RM2.30 per litre and RM2.20 a litre respectively last Wednesday, after the Domestic Trade, Cooperatives and Consumerism Ministry announced that it was cutting the subsidies by 20 sen.
The decision to cut back subsidies even as oil prices in Asia tumbled has stirred a flurry of criticism against the government for sparking inflation across the board.
But Putrajaya is under pressure to reduce its chronic overspending to 3.5 per cent of GDP this year, and has embarked on aggressive cost-cutting measures since last September, including slashing of fuel and sugar subsidies and approving an increase to electricity tariffs.
