PKR today scoffed at Prime Minister Najib Abdul Razak's announcement that there will be no electricity tariff hike this year, since the global oil price crash should have allowed a reduction in tariff.

 

"The prime minister should immediately cut the electricity tariff, not postpone the tariff hike.

 

"Global oil and gas prices have dropped by 50 percent, there is no reason to continue to protect independent power producers (IPPs) such as 1Malaysia Development Bhd.

 

"Keeping the current electricity tariff will only ensure exorbitant profits for IPPs," PKR strategy director Sim Tze Tzin ( right ) said in a statement.

 

Najib, in his budget restructuring speech today, announced the moratorium on electricity tariff in a bid to spur local businesses.

 

The shift to the domestic economy is in response to the weakening ringgit which makes imports expensive.

 

Najib, who is also finance minister, announced a RM5.5 billion cut to operational expenditure in the budget while assuring the RM48.5 billion development expenditure will remain untouched.

 

However Sim criticised the RM5.5 billion cut, stating that it only make up a minuscule part of the total amount used to fund a bloated government.

 

"In the (initial) 2015 Budget, government, operational expenditure was RM223.4 billion. Today, the prime minister announced RM5.5 billion cut. It only constitutes a 2.2 percent cut.”

 

Sim said the cut was "too little" and "too limited".

'What about bread and butter?'

In a separate response, PKR treasurer William Leong said Najib failed to address the ordinary rakyat's concerns in the revised budget ahead of the trying economic times.

"It is clear that the ordinary Malaysian does not have sufficient savings to overcome emergencies and the effects of an economic crisis.

"The savings rate of Malaysians has dropped drastically since 2008, while the household debt has risen to record levels," Leong ( on the left ) said in a statement today.

He called for the deferment of the Good and Services Tax (GST), despite such a move putting further strain on the country's coffers.

Meanwhile, PKR’s Kapar MP G Manivanan called on the government to abolish the approved permit (AP) on 2,428 food items, so as to reduce prices of imported goods and cushion the effect of the weak ringgit.

“I urge that this import permit system be abolished to enable imported food items be brought in without the prices being controlled by certain parties only,” Manivanan told a press conference at the PKR headquarters.

He said the AP has allowed certain quarters to monopolies the prices of imported food items.