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Malaysia slashes salaries of ministers
News & Trends •
at the news conference mahathir said malaysias debt is around 65 per cent of the countrys gdp1 malaysia has slashed salaries of ministers by 10 per cent and also cut public spending1 prime minister mahathir mohamad on wednesday the measures at the first cabinet meeting which was attended by more than a dozen of the newly sworn-in ministers1 we are concerned about the countrys financial problem mahathir told reporters after the meeting1 mahathir said he will not force other senior civil servants to follow suit but he said they can do so if they want to contribute towards reducing the cost of the running this country1 since taking power after the election victory mahathir has been focusing on implementing the commitments promised during the campaign including abolishing the six-per cent goods and services taxes which the rating firm moodys said could narrow the countrys tax base and strain fiscal strength1 the decision was taken to control spending as the new government deals with high-level debt the 92-year-old leader said exceeded more than one trillion ringgit 251.5 billion u.s. dollars1 aside from the pay cut he has been advocating other measures including forming a small cabinet downsizing the government and recovering some assets related to the 1mdb state fund overseas1 he said the land public transport commission will be disbanded with its previous functions placed under the transport ministry while several other non-essential institutions will be dissolved1 besides he touched on the review process of some mega projects saying the government is studying which will be scraped and which will be continued1 in addition he said the government is reviewing the contract for the search of the missing mh370 flight1 if we find that it is not necessary we will not renew the contract he said. xinhuanan1