KUCHING: Sarawak Business Federation hopes the unity government will implement policies to relax lending restrictions to ease the cash flow of businesses, for a better economic recovery of the country.
Apart from that, the government must provide necessary assistance to the Bottom 40 (B40) group in the Budget 2023, which will be tabled on Friday (Feb 24).
Speaking to New Sarawak Tribune on Wednesday (Feb 22), the federation’s secretary-general Datuk Jonathan Chai said the unity government needs to come up with some stimulus measures, for example, implementation of projects which will have the multiplier or spill over effects on the market.
“Bearing in mind that our national debt has now piled up to RM1.5 trillion and our Prime Minister has already forewarned the need to tighten our fiscal spending, I don’t think we could expect a ‘generous’ budget next week with that gloomy prelude,” he said.
He felt although there will be financial constraints on the part of the government in coming up with additional funding for hand-outs and incentives, it could however implement policies via Bank Negara to relax lending restrictions and even targeted moratorium on repayment of loans to ease the cash flow of businesses.
He also hoped there will be no ‘surprises’ which tend to increase the costs of doing business in Budget 2023.
As a Sarawakian, Chai is looking forward to a substantial portion of the development budget being catered to the development of basic infrastructure like roads, internet connectivity and provision of utilities in Sarawak despite the tight financial position of the federal government as the state needs that extra funding to bridge the gap of disparity between Semenanjung and East Malaysia.
“We should be allocated a special grant of RM300 million under Article 112(D) of the Federal Constitution as promised by the Prime Minister earlier on, at least this could be regarded as a reasonable quantum under the prevailing circumstances,” he said.
Chai, who is also the president of the Association of Aided Chinese Primary Schools Kuching, Samarahan and Serian Divisions, said the federal government could emulate the Sarawak government to continue making allocations for the independent Chinese secondary schools as well as the SJK Chung Hua in the country.
On a positive note, he said, looking at the recent performance of the Ringgit in foreign exchange rates against other major currencies, especially the US dollar; the new administration helmed by Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim seemed to have commanded better relations with more confidence from the foreign investors and the international community.
“Hopefully, our country can once again become a preferred destination for foreign investors from now on and that would be a positive step to return our economy to the right path,” he added.
