Negara pun boleh muflis jika...

(Sumber : http://www.themalaysianinsider.com/malaysia/article/national-debt-to-equal-gdp-by-2019-if-putrajaya-remains-spendthrift-say-economists)

National debt to equal GDP by 2019 if Putrajaya remains spendthrift, say economists

By Yow Hong Chieh

January 10, 2012

KUALA LUMPUR, Jan 10 — Malaysia’s national debt will hit 100 per cent of the Gross Domestic Product (GDP) by 2019 should Putrajaya continue to borrow more than it earns, economists say.

Malaysian Institute of Economic Research (MIER) distinguished fellow Mohd Ariff Abdul Kareem warned that the federal government revenue was growing too slowly to keep up with its borrowings, which hit 53.1 per cent of GDP in 2010.

He said while the current size of government debt relative to GDP was not troubling, the pace of its growth in recent years was cause for concern.

Debt-to-GDP ratio jumped from 41.4 per cent in 2008 to 53.1 per cent in 2010 while government debt grew 14.6 per cent in 2008 and 18.3 per cent in 2009, far outpacing the country’s GDP growth, Ariff noted.

“If nothing is done to reverse the current trends in government expenditures and revenues, extrapolation suggests that Malaysia’s national debt will explode to 100 per cent of GDP by 2019.

“Should the debt growth gather speed, this can happen sooner,” he told The Malaysian Insider via e-mail.

Ariff (picture) pointed out that while government spending on fiscal stimulus packages in the face of global financial crises has mostly translated into infrastructure development, there was a need to trim fat from the bloated civil service, which formed a significant chunk of Putrajaya’s operating expenditure.

He said emoluments to Malaysia’s civil service — the largest per capita in the Asia-Pacific according to the OECD — have risen from 23.3 per cent of the operating budget in 2007 to 33.1 per cent in 2010, rising to 41.6 per cent in 2010 if pensions were included.

This was a major financial burden on the government, as were the cost overruns, wastages and leakages exposed annually by the Auditor-General, the professor for international finance at the International Centre for Education in Islamic Finance (INCEIF) said.

“There is certainly a need to rein in government operating expenditure, which must include a downsizing of the bloated civil service, to bring government procurements under greater scrutiny with increased transparency and accountability and to undertake serious tax reforms to raise more revenue,” Ariff added.

RAM Holdings Bhd chief economist Dr Yeah Kim Leng said there needs to be political will on the part of Putrajaya to execute its Government Transformation Plan (GTP), which is partly aimed at stopping the fiscal deficit from rising further.

“We must follow it religiously because [the fiscal deficit] is currently the main vulnerability of Malaysia’s economy,” he said.

Yeah said Malaysia would be on the right track to keeping its fiscal deficit in check in the medium to long term if Putrajaya remained committed to this plan but cautioned that this was premised on an annual GDP growth of five to six per cent.

This was because any slowdown in the economy would lead to lower wages and higher unemployment, which would in turn negatively impact tax revenues, he said.

“There is a close correlation between growth and government revenue,” he said, noting that for every one per cent decrease in GDP growth, tax collection will drop by 0.8 per cent.

“During a slowdown we can expect government fiscal deficit to actually widen.”

Yeah added that the government does not have long to consolidate its fiscal position as income from the oil and gas sector, which makes up about 40 per cent of total government revenue, was expected to fall over the next five to 10 years as Malaysia’s oil reserves dwindle.

Prinsipnya sama sahaja...jika kita berbelanja lebih dari apa yang kita perolehi, pasti satu masa nanti kita akan muflis...tak kiralah sama ada ianya individu, organisasi, malah sebuah negara sekali pun...

Malang sekali kalau isu ini tidak diselesaikan dengan berhemah..

Sebagai seorang individu, apa yang boleh kita buat untuk mengatasi masalah ini? Pada aku, kita buat apa yang termampu..tambah ilmu, buat simpanan, berbelanja dengan berhemah, buat pelaburan yang menguntungkan dan bantu orang lain untuk buat benda yang sama...

Sekurang2nya jika berlaku sebarang krisis di masa akan datang, kita lebih bersedia...

Untuk yang masih tidak pasti apa yang patut dilakukan, boleh join seminar hartanah ni untuk menambahkan ilmu dan rakan2 yang sehaluan dengan kita :

Klik sini untuk jadi hartawan hartanah!

Berita Buruk Atau Baik?

(sumber : http://www.themalaysianinsider.com/business/article/RHB-Research-sees-property-sales-growth-tumbling-75pc)

RHB Research sees property sales growth tumbling 75pc

By Yow Hong Chieh

January 05, 2012

Tightening credit will drive demand towards more affordable property, said RHBRI. — File pic

KUALA LUMPUR, Jan 5 — Property sales growth is expected to fall to around a quarter of what it was in the last two years due to the projected lower GDP expansion and continuing euro zone crisis, RHB Research Institute (RHBRI) said today.

“We reiterate that, property sales are highly driven by the macroeconomic factors, i.e. the ultimate GDP growth, as seen in the last 20 years,” it said in a note.

“Given RHBRI’s estimated GDP growth of 3.6 per cent for 2012, we expect overall property sales to slow to around 5 per cent this year, following a remarkable 21 per cent and 20 per cent growth in 2010 and 2011 (based on annualised 1H numbers) for residential segment.”

Buyers were now taking longer to decide on property purchases, the research house noted, adding that large-scale projects such as SP Setia’s KL Eco City have already seen pullouts in bookings.

RHBRI added that it still expects property demand to gradually switch to the affordable or mass housing segment as demand for high-end properties dry up due to affordability issues and tighter financing.

Bank Negara Malaysia issued stricter lending guidelines last year, requiring banks to use net income rather than gross income to calculate debt service ratio for loan approvals.

The guidelines, which came into effect on January 1, cover all consumer loan products including housing loans, personal loans, car loans, credit card receivables and loans for the purchase of securities.

The move was introduced to rein in household debt, which stood 76 per cent to GDP, the second-highest in Asia after South Korea.

Despite “wobbly” fundamentals, RHBRI has upgraded the property sector from underweight to neutral, noting that property stocks had likely bottomed out in the fourth quarter of 2011 and the market did not expect further regulatory measures.

( Apa pandangan korang tentang artikel di atas? Adakah ia akan membuatkan korang tertanya2 akan prestasi sektor hartanah pada tahun ini? Ramai juga client aku yang khuatir untuk membuat sebarang pelaburan hartanah terutamanya pada hujung tahun lepas. Ramai yang takut kalau beli sekarang, harga hartanah akan jatuh menjunam macam harga silver dan emas baru2 ni.

Aku tak boleh nak komen panjang pasal bagaimana pelaburan hartanah akan perform tahun ni. Aku tade bebola kristal yang boleh melihat masa akan datang. Kalau aku ada, konpem aku dah kaya raya. Beli je saham google masa diorang baru nak start. Takyah susah2 pening kepala nak beli rumah, uruskan loan, uruskan penyewa etc hehe...

Cuma yang aku boleh cakap, investing is a plan. Kita mesti ada perancangan tentang bagaimana kita nak terlibat dalam satu2 pelaburan. Termasuk la pelaburan hartanah. Kalau yang dah ada plan tu, diorang tak kisah sangat pasal keadaan ekonomi dunia. Diorang memang dah ada strategi untuk bertindak jika ada sebarang pergerakan harga pasaran hartanah. Kalau yang tade plan n ikut2 orang tu yang menggelabah tak tentu pasal tu. Orang lain beli, dia pun gatal nak beli. Tak kisah la apa2 jenis pelaburan pun termasuk la pelaburan hartanah.

Thats why ilmu tu penting. Kawan2 yang sekepala juga penting. Antara cara terbaik untuk mendapatkan ilmu dan rakan2 yang sekepala dengan kita dalam bidang pelaburan hartanah adalah dengan menghadiri seminar. Aku sendiri ada buat allocation untuk pergi ke majlis2 ilmu macam ni. So aku suggest korang pun buat benda yang sama. Cari ilmu dulu sebelum buat sebarang tindakan pelaburan.

Kalau korang tercari2 seminar hartanah mana yang bagus untuk korang join, aku nak suggest satu seminar yang dianjurkan oleh satusolution ( tuan bri). Aku merupakan salah seorang peserta awal dalam seminar ni dan aku boleh katakan ilmu dan network yang aku dapat memang berbaloi. Harganya juga amat berpatutan ( ikut harga aku dulu la...harga sekarang ni kena cek balik) .

Nak tau lebih lanjut, korang boleh refer kat sini :

SEMINAR HARTANAH - SATU SOLUTION SDN BHD

Tak silap aku kelas yang dianjurkan agak limited. So better korang act cepat. Takut terlepas kapal. Nanti gigit jari plak kang...

Semoga korang mendapat manfaat dari ilmu yang dikongsikan di situ...Good Luck! )

Lawak Orang Super Kaya...

( Sumber : Reddit )

Kah Kah Kah....

Azam 2012

Salam sejahtera sume!

Dah 4 Jan 2012 dah. Tak wish lagi u all selamat tahun baru. So SELAMAT TAHUN BARU!!! haha...harap tade la terlewat sangat. Mood celebrate tahun dah habis dah since 2 hari lepas. Sekarang ni aku sure ramai yang tengah mood nak bekerja. Harap2 gitu la kan. Jangan rasa down plak bila cuti panjang dah habis. Seronok kalau dapat bekerja ni. Active lifestyle. Kena ada matlamat yang perlu dikejar so baru la rasa alive.

Macam mana dengan goal setting korang? dah buat? dah start execute? atau masih terkebil2 lagi? Aku pun start lambat juga. Dah masuk tahun baru, resolusi 2012 masih lagi tak kemas. Lompong sana sini. Masih keep on updating. Apa2 pun, yang penting resolusi tu mesti la dalam bentuk bertulis. Nak tulis kat kertas pun bole, nak tulis kat excel pun bole. Janji ada. Tade la nanti meraban je keje tunggang langgang siang malam tapi taktau apa yang dikejar. Rugi je masa tu kan.

So nak citer la kat korang salah satu azam aku untuk tahun ni. Nak turunkan berat badan. Tak banyak pun. 5 Kg je. Ada orang cakap small matter. Tapi what ever it is, azam tetap azam kan. Berat badan aku dah terlebih dari sepatutnya. Dah bukan berat badan ideal lagi dah. Terlebih 5kg. Tu pasal nak turunkan 5kg je, tanak lebih2 nanti kurus sangat dah x elok plak.

Untuk mencapai matlamat ni, aku plan nak turun kelas kickboxing dengan lebih konsisten. Paling koman sekali seminggu dan diselangi dengan exercise2 ringan di rumah atau di gym. Sebelum ni kalau g training tu ikut suka hati je. Kalau rajin baru pergi. Kalau malas, alamatnya berdengkur la di rumah. Rugi je duit bayar yuran.

Aku harap kita sumer pun ada matlamat untuk menjaga kesihatan. Bukan apa, badan yang sihat ni membolehkan kita bekerja dengan lebih cergas dan berkesan untuk mencapai matlamat2 yang lain. So tak rugi kalau kita jaga kesihatan. Sekurang2nya kena la bersenam 2 kali seminggu. Kasi keluar peluh. Konpem akan rasa segar dalam seminggu tu.

Good Luck ek!

Aduh...dah nampak double chin...nampak sangat dah gemuk...

Kalau dapat badan macam mamat dalam poster tu kan best...haha berangan...

Anak Bapak

(Sumber : http://thestar.com.my/news/story.asp?file=%2F2011%2F12%2F28%2Fnation%2F10167736&sec=nation)

PETALING JAYA: The revised employers’ statutory contribution rate of 13% to the Employees Provident Fund for workers earning less than RM5,000 a month will take effect next month.

EPF public relations general manager Nik Affendi Jaafar said the 1% increase from the current 12% will benefit about 5.3 million working Malaysians, who make up 92% of EPF’s active members.

“The employees’ contribution rate remains at 11%,” said Nik Affendi in a press statement yesterday.

Employees who are 55 years and above and earning wages not exceeding RM5,000 will also benefit from the revised rates, as employers are now required to contribute at 6.5% – an additional 0.5% from the current 6%.

The rate increase was announced by Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib Tun Razak in his Budget 2012 speech as a move to help those with insufficient savings to bear the cost of living upon retirement.

While most employees will welcome the boost in their retirement savings, employers fear that the increase will be a burden to them.

Malaysian Employers Federation executive director Shamsuddin Bardanhad said most employers may find it difficult to absorb the additional cost and that they might reduce their manpower.

( Ini merupakan satu berita gembira kepada para pekerja yang bergaji rm5000 ke bawah. Tanpa perlu membuat sebarang caruman tambahan, mereka dapat menikmati caruman tambahan sebanyak 1% yang diberi oleh majikan mereka. Gunakan peluang ini sebaik mungkin. Kalau boleh, fikirkan cara untuk memaksimakan pulangan dari akaun 2 kwsp anda.

Untuk aku pula, berita ni tade memainkan peranan apa2 pun. Duit dalam kwsp aku pun dah tak naik2 dah bape lama dah. Tade orang nak tolong carumkan hehe...)

Ada duit banyak pun susah?

(Sumber : http://finance.yahoo.com/news/india-tycoons-got-tons-cash-064653323.html)

MUMBAI, India (AP) -- Ajay Piramal is sitting on a mountain of cash. Yet the billionaire Indian tycoon, working in one of the world's fastest growing economies, is struggling to figure out what to do with the money.

The problem isn't opportunity, he said. It's India.

"Every large investment, there was no transparency," Piramal said.

His dilemma is a worrying sign for India. With the country mired in corruption, bureaucratic red tape and unclear and changing government policies, many of the men who made their billions here are saying maybe it's time to quit India. It's got to be easier to do business elsewhere.

In May last year, Piramal's healthcare business sold its generic drug operations to U.S. pharmaceutical giant Abbott Laboratories for $3.8 billion. Piramal, a tall big man in a country that still measures prosperity by girth, was eager to set that cash pile to work. He wanted to expand one of his chemical plants, but was told it would take five years.

"The same plant could be set up in China in two years," he said. "I love India, but my customer is not going to wait."

India, still a beacon of relatively fast growth despite a troubled world economy, should be a magnet for capital. Instead, since the beginning of 2010, the amount that Indians have invested in businesses overseas has exceeded the amount foreigners are investing in India, according to central bank figures.

In part this reflects the confidence and aptitude of India's maturing companies and the current malaise in the global economy and financial markets. But it also reflects deep problems at home. India's big coporations may be cash rich but the failure to invest that money domestically is bad news for a developing country that needs capital to build the roads, power plants and food warehouses that could help lift hundreds of millions out of dire poverty.

The frustration of India's business elite with corruption, political paralysis, log-jammed approvals, regulatory flip-flops, lack of access to natural resources and land acquisition battles — to pick a few of the top complaints — has reached a pitch perhaps not heard since India began liberalizing its economy in the early 1990s.

"If you are an honest businessman in India, it's very difficult to start up anything," said Jamshyd Godrej, chairman of manufacturing giant Godrej & Boyce. "Companies are going to operate where they see the best opportunities and efficiency for their capital."

Increasingly, that's outside India.

In 2008, foreigners poured roughly twice as much direct investment into India — $33 billion — as Indians plowed into businesses overseas. By 2010, that had reversed: Indians invested $40 billion abroad — twice as much as foreigners invested in India — a trend that's continued this year.

There is another, unspoken element to all the complaints. To the extent that business in India ran on corruption, some of the old, dirty ways of doing things are being disrupted, freezing India's already glacial bureaucracy, business leaders say.

Scandals in the staging of the Commonwealth Games, the pilfering of homes meant for war widows and the irregular auction of cellphone spectrum that cost the country billions has sent parliamentarians and even a Cabinet minister to prison.

With Indians tiring of the incessant graft, tens of thousands of middle-class protesters poured into the streets and pushed an anti-corruption bill onto the floor of Parliament.

Steelmakers can't get enough iron ore because a massive mining scandal in the southern state of Karnataka prompted a court to order the closure of illicit mines that account for a fifth of iron ore production in the country.

The bureaucrats — even the honest ones — are reportedly so scared of being punished they are refusing to make the decisions needed to make the country run.

Piramal is not unpatriotic. Each room in his executive suite is named after an Indian epic hero: Arjuna, the most pure; Dhananjay, acquirer and master of wealth. There's a quote from the Upanishads scriptures on the wall.

His office sits in a one million square foot office park in Mumbai his family built. The buildings around him — white with blue glass that flashes back the unforgiving sun — bear his own name in large black letters: Piramal Towers.

Piramal had the will and the means to build power plants and roads.

Instead, his Piramal Group's largest investment to date has been in one of the office park's tenants: the Indian subsidiary of the British telecom giant Vodafone Plc.

Last September, when he got the first payout, of $2.2 billion, from Abbott, the phone started ringing.

"Because people knew we had money, we had so many people approaching us for projects in the infrastructure sector," he said. "These people had no experience and no knowledge and no track record of having built a business in any area. And yet they were coming to us saying we have licenses and approvals. That just didn't sound right or smell right."

Each day, they paraded through his office: The investment banker who decided to build a 500 megawatt power plant, the coal trader assured of a government coal allocation, small-time miners with pretty presentations promising land, licenses and financing.

"They'd name politicians from the center and the state who had it all tied up for them," he said. "It didn't sound right. Obviously there were things going on in the system."

Road and port projects weren't much better, he said.

Piramal also looked at investing in engineering and infrastructure services companies, but couldn't make sense of their books.

"We couldn't find anything," he said. "People get greedy. In their desire to get good valuations they resort to, if I can say, creative accounting."

Today, India's infrastructure companies are known as great wealth destroyers.

"Infrastructure investment has become untouchable, a sure way of losing money," said Jagannadham Thunuguntla, head of research at SMC Global Securities. He calculates that four of India's top infrastructure companies — GMR Infrastructure, GVK Power and Infrastructure, Lanco Infratech and Punj Lloyd — have lost over 80 percent of their value since 2007. A fifth, Larson & Toubro is down 50 percent.

Piramal may have dodged a bullet, but shareholders in Piramal Healthcare aren't happy. Despite a $600 million special dividend and share buyback, the share price has sagged since the Abbott deal was announced on May 21 last year. They'd like to see the Abbott cash productively deployed. Instead, much of it is sitting in fixed deposit accounts.

Piramal said he really does want to run a pharmaceutical company and be the first Indian company to discover a world-class drug — despite his dabbling in telecom, financial services and real estate financing. It's just that pharma can't absorb all his cash. He plans to sell the 5.5 percent stake he picked up in Vodafone Essar for $640 million in a few years, when Vodafone Essar issues shares in an initial public offering, he said.

He has also launched Piramal Capital, to make real estate and infrastructure loans, and spent about $50 million to acquire IndiaReit, a real estate investment company.

Meanwhile, his thoughts have turned to Boston, where he set up IndUS Growth Partners with a professor from Harvard Business School to look for buying opportunities in the U.S., in security, financial services and biotechnology. And he said he's still planning to spend over a billion dollars on biotechnology acquisitions in North America and Europe.

"India was going more towards capitalism than socialism," Piramal said. "I think we're going back. Capitalism went to too much excess. Corruption levels went to the extreme."

He said he'll announce his first overseas acquisition by March.

( Ada duit banyak pun susah, tade duit lagi la susah...hehe)