The Pakatan Harapan-led Federal Government has never borrowed to pay its civil servants’ salaries, unlike the Kelantan state government. This has been proven by the reaffirmation of Malaysia’s sovereign credit ratings at A3 or A- with a stable outlook.
Should the federal government borrow to pay the salaries of its civil servants, this would inevitably lead to an immediate credit rating downgrade.
Let me reiterate unequivocally that the government has sufficient funds to pay our civil servants and will never borrow to do so.
Furthermore, the government is on target to cut its fiscal deficit from 3.7 percent of GDP in 2018 to 3.4 percent this year. All borrowings raised by the government are to finance the fiscal deficit and all development expenditures as had been done under previous administrations. None of the borrowings is utilised for operational expenditure, like the payment of salaries.
However, during the Negeri Sembilan budget debate in the state assembly on Monday, Nov 25, Mohamad Hassan casually made an irresponsible allegation that the federal government borrowed money to pay the salaries of its civil servants.
His statement is false and can be disproved easily.
In the third quarter of 2019, the government’s emoluments were RM19.9 billion. In comparison, the government’s total revenue for the same quarter was RM68.8 billion. This means the government’s revenue was more than three times the size of its emoluments.
Table 1 above compares the government’s quarterly revenue and emoluments since the second quarter of 2018. It highlights the fact that the government’s revenue is consistently and significantly bigger than its emoluments.
These numbers are regularly updated and disclosed publicly. The latest figures have been published by the Treasury on page 8 of the “Quarterly Malaysian Economic Update”. The report is readily available at the Treasury’s website.
The federal government is capable of paying its civil servants and meeting its other financial obligations unlike the situation faced by the Kelantan state government.
The Ministry of Finance on Oct 14 had approved the state government’s request for an advance worth RM100 million to assist Kelantan with its operational expenditure, including the payment of salaries until the end of 2019.
Last year in 2018, the federal government agreed to advance the Kelantan state government RM91.5 million for the same purpose. Clearly Mohamad Hassan has pointed to the wrong target and should be referring to the Kelantan state government instead of the federal government.
Article on Malaysiakini: https://www.malaysiakini.com/news/501573
希盟领导的联邦政府可不像吉兰丹州政府，希盟政府不曾举债来支薪给公务员。这一切可以从马来西亚主权评级一直保持在平稳的A3或A-的前景获得印证。
如果联邦政府真的需要举债来支付薪水给公务员，主权评级早就马上降等。
林冠英： “让我再明确的强调一次，政府拥有足够的资金支付公务员薪水，将不会举债来支薪。”
再者，政府也成功的将2018年占GDP的3.7%财政赤字降低至今年只占GDP的3.4%。政府所举债务跟前朝所实践的一样，乃是用以解决财政赤字及用以所有的发展开销。政府根本不曾举债来用在诸如支付薪水的行政开销。
莫哈末哈山轻率地虚假指控可以轻易就被攻破
然而，在森美兰州2019年11月25日的预算案辩论中，莫哈末哈山轻率地作出了不负责任地指控，污蔑联邦政府举债来支付公务员的薪水。
哈山的言论根本是虚假指控，而且可以轻易被攻破。
2019年第三季，政府薪酬开支为199亿令吉。同一季度，政府的税收是688亿令吉，这说明政府的税收是薪酬支出的3.5倍。
附表：为2018年第二季度以来政府的季度收入和薪酬开支之比较。它突显出政府的收入始终且显着高于薪酬支出的事实。
附表1：政府的季度收入和薪酬开支
这些数字会定期更新并公诸于世。最新数据已刊登于马来西亚经济季度报告第8页。该报告可在财政部的网站上免费取得。网址如下（https://www.treasury.gov.my/index.php/en/economy/quarterly-malaysian-economic.html）。
与吉兰丹州政府所面临的情况不同，联邦政府有能力支付旗下的公务员并履行其他应尽的财务责任。
财政部已于2019年10月14日批准了丹州政府的要求，提供价值1亿令吉的预付款以协助吉兰丹州解决行政开销，包括支付公务员薪金至2019年底。
去年，联邦政府也同样批准了丹州政府9150万令吉的预支请求，以便支付相关开销。显然的，哈山搞错了对象，他指的应该是吉兰丹州政府，而不是联邦政府。
林冠英
财政部长
马来西亚财政部
布城
2019年11月28日
在火箭报的文稿： https://tinyurl.com/whkfha7