Hey big spender...
Remember when people were saying how the past couple of years have been a struggle for Malaysians due to the economic downturn?Well, if you look at their credit card bills, you wouldn't have guessed.
It has been revealed that Malaysians spent a lot of money while they are travelling abroad. How much, you ask?
How about RM46 billion?
Second Finance Minister Datuk Seri Johari Abdul Ghani revealed the surprisingly shocking number during a parliament session on Monday, reported The Star Online.
The amount was an increase of RM 5 billion compared to 2015.
The money spent abroad shows that Malaysians were not affected by the rising cost of living, and that the state of the economy was not as bad as people made it out to be, said Johari.
“If the economy is not doing well, I don’t think people can afford to go overseas,” he was quoted as saying.
While we would love to go into a long (and probably heated) debate regarding the statement, we can't really argue with the numbers though.
According to a survey by popular hotel booking site Hotels.com, 2017 saw a double-digit growth in Malaysians booking hotel rooms at popular overseas destinations.
The site reportedly saw a 40 per cent quarterly growth, with a majority of Malaysians heading to places such as Macau, Osaka, Seoul, Melbourne and Paris.
At the time, Hotels' representative said the growth coincided with the strong performance of the ringgit.
We don't know about you; we can't even afford to go for a holiday abroad let alone shop there. So, your statement is wrong, Mr. Minister!