Nazir: Don’t expect incentives on Friday

by **Cals** Tue 22 Oct 2013, 09:02

Posted on 22 October 2013 - 05:39am

Ee Ann Nee
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KUALA LUMPUR (Oct 22, 2013): Malaysians should not expect incentives in the upcoming Budget 2014 as the budget's priority should focus on addressing the country's deficit, said CIMB Group Holdings Bhd group chief executive Datuk Seri Nazir Razak (pix).

He said Budget 2014, which will be announced on Friday, is going to be Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib Abdul Razak's most challenging budget, given what is happening globally with fund flows, emerging markets, as well as Malaysia's budget deficit, gearing level and the list of possible initiatives by the government today.

"Definitely it's going to be a big challenge to get the budget right. To me, the priority must be the government's deficit," he told a press conference after the launch of CIMB Bank Bhd's new Plug n Pay payment solution here yesterday.

"It is a challenging budget and I'm anxious to hear what they (government) come up with later this week," said Nazir, adding that he is not expecting any incentives to be announced.

"Given the circumstances, I don't think anyone should have expectations of incentives. We have gone through a long period of good incentives."

He said the country has the collective interest to make sure it puts the government's financial interest first.

"The last thing we want is for people to be looking for additional incentives and handouts," Nazir added.

He explained that what is more important is the health of the government's financial position and relatedly Malaysia's sovereign rating.

"If the government gets that wrong and the government's ratings are negatively impacted, the financial implications far outweigh any incentives that any one can get," Nazir said, adding that the cost of borrowing for Malaysian corporates and individuals will be impacted.

Earlier at the event, Nazir said Plug n Pay is the country's first chip-based mobile point-of-sale payment solution, which allows businesses an affordable yet secure way to manage electronic payments using their smartphones and tablets.

By encouraging wider accessibility and affordability of mobile point-of-sale solutions for Malaysian businesses, the move is also in line with Bank Negara Malaysia's aim to boost the number of cashless transactions per capita to 200 from 44 and reduce the usage of cheques to 100 million by 2020 from 207 million.

"When customers come onboard to use Plug n Pay, it will also give us opportunity of cross-selling other products," said Nazir.

The Plug n Pay device is priced at RM250 each and can accept any MasterCard and Visa branded cards. The mobile app is available on the Apple App Store and Google Play Store.
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