A Ringgit banknote of Malaysia (Photo: Reuters) Kuala Lumpur (VNA) – Malaysian Prime Minister andFinance Minister Anwar Ibrahim on February 24 submitted a 2023 revised budgetplan draft with a record estimate of 388.1 billion RM (87.2 billion USD).
His predecessor Muhyiddin Yassin proposed to the country’sparliament a budget of 372.3 billion in October 2022 just three days before theparliament was dissolved to pave the way for the general election.
Under Anwar’s spending plan, 74.8% of the proposed revisedbudget will be used for operational spending, and the remaining 25.2% fordevelopment spending. The budget 2023 will focus on addressing the high cost ofliving, further strengthening the social safety network and the micro, small andmedium enterprise (MSME) ecosystem.
The government will also consider ways to reduce marketdisruptions and streamline business processes through the adoption of hightechnology and digitalisation, protecting people's livelihoods, maintainingintegrity, raising awareness of a caring and compassionate society, andimproving the efficiency of public and private sector distribution systems.
The three ministries with the most budget allocations are theMinistry of Finance, the Ministry of Health, and the Ministry of Education. Thebudgets for the Ministry of Home Affairs and the Ministry of Defense alsoincreased compared to the previous draft, 18.5 billion RM and 17.7billion RM respectively, to enhance national security.
The expenditure draft also includes many support packages suchas increasing New Year bonuses for civil servants; tax reduction for a group ofmiddle-income households (M40); cash support for low-income households (B40),food carts, computers for university students from those households; reducingInternet charges and support families with five children or more.
After the revised draft2023 budget is submitted to the parliament, delegates will have 30 days todebate. It is expected that the draft budget will be approved before theparliament’s second session wraps up on March 30./.
