Pakatan Harapan manifesto promises to incur more debt for country: Najib

ARAU: The country's debt will surge to RM416 billion if the goods and services tax and road toll collection are abolished as promised in the Pakatan Harapan general election manifesto, said Datuk Seri Najib Abdul Razak.
The Prime Minister said the abolition of the GST and toll collection would make the country incur an RM383-billion debt, not to mention the other existing debts.
He also said that the country would be unable to implement up to half of the national development with the loss of the huge revenue.
"Going by its (Pakatan Harapan) manifesto, our country will decline more into debt. You (young people) will have to bear it. We cannot cheat the people; don't cheat the people. We do what we can. If we cannot do something, we have to admit that we cannot do it.
"But believe me, we (Barisan Nasional) always have the people under consideration because the people come first in our policies," Najib said at the programme 'Budget 2018 with the People: Youths and Students', at Universiti Malaysia Perlis (UniMAP) here today.
Najib said a country would remain backward if all amenities were provided free to the people because the economy would not grow.
"We have to grow our economy. Last year, our economic growth was among the highest in the world with a 5.9% performance. When the economy grows, much investment flows in and this will provide many job opportunities.
"We have one of the best systems in the world but, sadly, it is not appreciated. It is not our fault. Some people deliberately twist the facts into fake news," he said.
Najib said the people should place their trust in the existing government. He expressed confidence that Malaysia was now on the threshold of becoming a great country.
"We are preparing a good economic landscape for the future generations. In the next five years, Malaysia will have a new look when projects such as the Mass Rapid Transit (MRT), High-Speed Rail and Abdul Razak Exchange (TRX) are fully completed," he said. — Bernama