PETALING JAYA: DAP chairman Lim Guan Eng has criticised Prime Minister Ismail Sabri Yaakob for the country’s drop in the global competitiveness ranking, saying it is the result of his failure to practise good governance.
His response came in the wake of news that Malaysia had slipped seven notches to 32nd place in the 2022 International Institute for Management Development (IMD) World Competitiveness Ranking, from the 25th place last year.
The former finance minister also said the drop in ranking reinforced the need for Putrajaya to heed warnings about the lack of competency, certainty, and consistency in its governance.
“This competitiveness report does not augur well for the country’s economy that is buffeted by soaring prices, the rising cost of living, rising corruption, acute labour shortages, weakening ringgit value, government red tape, traffic jams, and communications congestion,” he said in a statement today.
“At a time when the ringgit should be strengthening with high oil prices and soaring commodity prices, especially for palm oil, the ringgit has dipped to record lows against the US and Singapore dollar, two of our three largest trading partners.”
The Bagan MP repeated his call for a price stabilisation fund and proposal for the creation of a buffer stockpile of essential commodities to moderate price escalations and fluctuations.
On the abolition of food import APs announced by Ismail last month, Lim said the move should not be accompanied by increased red tape that slowed down processing time.
He also called for subsidies to be promptly distributed and not delayed, citing chicken price subsidies, where only RM50 million out of RM730 million approved by the agriculture and food industries ministry was paid at the end of May.
Lim also accused the government of being in denial after it claimed that inflation was under control at a rate of only 2.3%, saying this rate was due to controlled prices.
“A more accurate reflection would be to look at the Producer Price Index, which was at 11% in April.
“The prime minister should direct his ministers to go down to the ground to get a realistic assessment by visiting markets instead of going on overseas trips,” he said.
At the World Economic Forum in late May, finance minister Tengku Zafrul Aziz said the higher fuel subsidies, worth RM71 billion this year, had resulted in a lower core inflation rate at 2.3%.
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