Thursday, August 28, 2008

Malaysian Budget 2009 - A Concern Of All Malaysians

Our annual Federal budget is up again, falling nicely on tomorrow (August 29, Friday), leaving the full weekend for us to muse over the outlook for 2009. Pak Lah, our PM who doubles up to be MOF, would be geared up in the Parliament to present the hotly- talked Malaysian Budget 2009.



Our Budget Day has been a national event of great excitement to me for a simple reason that it accords me with an opportunity to browse through an outline on the economic outlook fronting the nation.

Locally, budget day zeal is still lacking. I recall when I was at Monash University in Australia, I was pop-eyed with amazement to see the great enthusiasm shown by Aussies generally towards the national budget.

My course work required me to get a copy of daily with full budgetary coverage. That was perhaps the first time I had to join in such a long queue to get my daily! It was amazing that the public there was so zealous about the nation's budget!

Let's come back to our budget for 2009: How is it going to be like? Pak Lah is widely tipped to present an expansionary budget, populist in nature, aiming to pump-prime the gloomy economic front. In short, the government of Pak Lah is going to spend more at a deficit to prop up the slowing economy.

The picture shows Pak Lah in a KTM carriage among the rush-hour crowds for a firsthand experience of complaints plaguing KL's public transport system.

2 comments:

Anonymous said...

Tony, you must be very familiar with the money issues. I have two questions:-
1. Can you please tell us something about the housing loan in Sibu? I meant what is the rate now and how do the bank decide the term (length) of the loan? Do all banks provide housing loan?
2. What is usually the real price compared to the listed price. I think there must be certain percentage of margin available for negotiation, such as 10%, 20% or?
Thank you

Tony Hii said...

anonymous, your questions relate to bank housing loan. You may sit down face to face with a bank credit officer to bargain for a good deal. The local banks operate in an environment with stiff competitions. Try to get a few quotes before you settle down. Now is a good time for you to hunt around. Mind you, our economy is slowing down!