KUALA LUMPUR: Opposition leader Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim (pix) has cautioned the government not to exploit the additional expenditure of RM45 billion for the Covid-19 Fund.
The Port Dickson MP said the government should be transparent in detailing the estimated additional expenditure of RM45 billion through the proposed Temporary Measures for Government Financing (Coronavirus Disease 2019) Act 2020 which is to be amended.
“I want to follow up and ask for an explanation on two things, many of us agree (on the presentation of the bill) because this involves our negotiations with the government but there are two questions,“ Anwar said at the Dewan Rakyat today.
“First on the approval in principle (more aid to be distributed), but ‘haprak’ (zero) because it’s been abused. The best example of this is Mitra (Malaysian Indian Transformation Unit government agency). Mitra is a fund set up for the Indian poor. But until now there is no satisfactory explanation regarding their expenditure,” he said.
Commenting further, he said there was confusion regarding the injection of funds because some funds were being allocated for contracts and for other affairs.
“Secondly, is the MoU between the opposition and the government, RM45 billion is a direct injection for the poor but I see there is confusion because some of the allocation was for contracts and for other matters,“ he said.
“I do not object but remember it has been agreed that the money is specifically for the poor B40,“ he said.
Earlier this morning, Finance Minister Tengku Zafrul Abdul Aziz had tabled the Temporary Measures for Government Financing Bill 2020 for the second reading.
The memorandum of understanding (MoU) between the government and Pakatan Harapan (PH) agreed that at least RM45 billion would be needed as according to Zafrul it is to protect livelihoods to give to the affected Malaysian families and towards economic recovery.
The Bill to amend the Temoorary Measures for Government Financing (Coronavirus Disease 2019(Covid-19) was passed by the Dewan Rakyat today, thus raising the country’s maximum statutory debt ceiling to 65% of gross domestic product (GDP) from 60% previously.
