Can we depend on our Leaders to handle our economy?

Malaysia is not going into recession next year... economy fundamentals are strong, says our up and coming PM. But what is happening now, Mr. PM to be cum Finance Minister, does not seem to look like it...

RM$5b "bailout" loan to State investment company, ValueCap Sdn Bhd from EPF to invest in the stock market. ValueCap owes its three shareholders RM$5.1b. The move was highly questionable. Deputy PM, now Finance Minister defended the move by saying that ValueCap has good performance record. Then why the hell do they need the RM5b loan if the they performed well.

Goverment spending RM$42b in September to defend the Ringgit... Wow. Again Mr. PM to be, why do we need to spend so much to defend our Ringgit if the economy is fundamentally strong? Haven't we learned something from the Asian Financial crisis? Oh.. I forgot, your right hand man (Finance Minister II) is a gambler and he once lost big during the Asian financial crisis. Like all gamblers, revenge would be sweet... our sour. I just hope we would need to get assistance from World's loan shark, the IMF in the near future.

And recently RM7b stimulus package to strengthen the economy and boost confidence within the private sector. I am OK with this, but I always fear the implemention part and our government has very good track records for this.. remember all the development corridors? from south, north, east, west , heaven and earth... what happened to them? I am sure money will be syphoned out of the package. YAB PM to be.... tak cukup lah (not enough).

Our current PM says price of goods MUST fall, now that price of oil has declined... but who is listening Mr. PM? Last time I checked, prices still the same. In fact, some vendors still has the gut to raise prices even now...Inflation to come down? Domestic Trade and Affairs minister said that there is no guarantee that price of goods must come down.

Bahhhh... But I must salute him for changing his finance minister portfolio with his deputy because he knows that he do not know anything about finance and economy. I am not sure whether the deputy knows about the economy or not but I only know his brother is a great banker.

Can Malaysia depend on Finance Minister II?.... He's a gambler. What if Malaysian currency continues to depreciate? Gamble more? His hands must be itchy after 11 years.

No wonder the opposition walked out of parliament in protest.

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Article contributed by Private Trader, Market Expert, Trading Coach and Chief Market Strategist of Nextview, Mr. Benny Lee. For more articles and commentaries from Benny, click HERE.