[侧眼看世界] Petrol, Crude Oil, Inflation & Economic

Last December, I was on my way back to hometown. I passed by a petrol kiosk near Putrajaya. I saw this signboard and quickly snapped it.

Petrol
Petrol, it become a very important commodity for us, the car driver/owner. It also a very important indicator for our wealth. How much your dear warlord’s cars drink a day and how much she drinks per KM. Our dear Proton brand warlord will drink RM 0.13-0.16/ KM and Perodua is around RM 0.11-0.13.

That is some of our rich friends who are driving Japanese car. Their mileage is only RM 0.10 per KM !!!

Crude Oil
Since the stupid 2nd Iraq war lead by idiot George Bush Jr and his dear follower Tony Blair, cruel oil price become unstable. In the Arabic nation, there is more and more unrest among the people due their silent government toward America.

From USD 20-30 per barrel, it becomes USD 70-80 per barrel, during the peak. Now the price back to USD 60 per barrel.

From the signboard, I’m not sure when is the calculating date for the price per liter. My boss said it gonna adjust again in 2006. PM also made a similar statement. The final price would be around RM 2 per liter.

So on the New Year eve, I’d a bad dream, when I wake up, the news announce that petrol price hike! Lucky it just a dream.

Look at the signboard again, I feel like the government want you to appreciate them for their kindness in the past. To be frank, today Malaysia is losing its competitiveness in the world. We are not longer cheap in the labour cost and the living cost. But our productivity and technology innovation are still not up to the mark yet.

Inflation
Thank to the petrol price hike in 2005, inflation rate in Malaysia increase to more than 3.5%, which is among the highest in the past 7 years since 1997 crisis. The FD saving rate just 3.0% and the inflation is 3.5% ! Damn it, for those who keep a lot of cash in bank, actually yo u are losing money! For those who study a little bit economic you should know what this mean. You may need to find out some financial tool to help you to accumulate your wealth rather than freeze in banker.

Chciken rice in PJ rise to RM 4 per plate and mixed rice also at least RM 3.5 for 3 dishes. Look back at our pay slip, it still remain the same. Many people forecast that this year the salary increase is expected lower than previous year and at 5.69%, drop from 5.81%

Malaysia Economic
We, the generation grown under Wawasan 2020, are facing the reality now. Many people said government is running out of fund and use “saman” and income tax to squire money. To be honest, government still has money. The issue now is how to spend the comparative tighten budget. We have to spend wisely. We are not at the worst yet and we are not the best also.

Good governance and transparency are the solution. But are we ready for it ? Look at the Dr M- Proton saga, we are still far away from my dear neighbor, Singapore.

2006 can be a more challenging year for us.

To all my dear friends and enemies, let work hard.