Budget 2025 happening in a month time!
Sharing an excerpt from The Star article: --
Anwar wants Budget 2025, which will be presented on Oct 18 in the Dewan Rakyat, to focus on addressing and reducing the cost of living.
"Even though I can say that our sugar, oil, flour, and cooking oil are among the cheapest, Malaysians still feel the strain.
"Therefore, this Budget will not only address the issues we have been discussing but will also tackle the problems posed by cartels, monopolies, and the factors driving up prices. We must address all these issues," he said during his speech at the Finance Ministry's monthly assembly on Tuesday (Aug 6).
He pointed out that the rising costs are exacerbated by issues such as leakage, corruption, smuggling, and cartels.
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Read the full pre-budget Statement here: https://cutt.ly/QeTFedag
Here’s a few points that captured my attention: --
- Budget 2025 will focus on three important thrusts of the Ekonomi MADANI framework:
1. Raise the Ceiling: This thrust aims to restructure the economy and boost national competitiveness…
2. Raise the Floor: This thrust aims to improve the quality of life for all Malaysians to ensure equality of opportunities… improvements in the ‘Ease of Doing Business’ to encourage set-up of new businesses and expansion of existing investments.
3. Good Governance and Public Sector Reform: This thrust aims to enhance transparency, efficiency and accountability in the Government…
- Budget 2025 plans to build on early efforts to develop the economy’s next growth engines, for instance, in the areas of carbon capture, utilisation, and storage (CCUS), green industrial parks and higher-value semiconductor manufacturing.
- The Government through Budget 2025 will complement the commitment by GLICs and GLCs to enhance their domestic sector investments, with an additional RM440 billion into domestic capital markets and a commitment of RM120 billion into direct domestic investments including venture capital, which are to be deployed over the next 5 years.
- Leveraging Malaysia's chairmanship of ASEAN in 2025, the Government will focus on strengthening regional collaboration in key areas such as financial technology (fintech), financial inclusion and cross-border cooperation to enhance border security and promotion of regional trade.
- The Government will continue to implement initiatives to provide sufficient and affordable food supply, which emphasises the cultivation of innovation, productivity enhancement and re-engineering in all aspects of the agro-food value chain… help Malaysia achieve the self-sufficiency ratio (SSR) targets more swiftly.
- National security will continue to be prioritised to safeguard peace and harmony for Malaysia. Given its importance, security-related expenditure will continue to be the third largest recipient of budgetary allocation in Budget 2025.
- Budget 2025 will also continue to explore areas to optimise on budgetary allocations, address procurement weaknesses and promote the development of a domestic defence industry.
- In preparation for Visit Malaysia 2026, Budget 2025 will support greater facilitation of tourist arrivals, increased flight connectivity and improvements in tourism products and offerings.
- The Government will continue to intensify efforts to enhance standard of living by promoting the creation of employment opportunities with respectable jobs and decent wages, which afford all Malaysians a higher standard of living. The focus will begin with priority sectors under the New Industrial Master Plan 2030 (NIMP).
- World-Class Basic Infrastructure: Budget 2025 welcomes innovations, particularly those that expand the reach of basic infrastructure to remote populations in an expeditious and cost-effective manner. Allocations for rural development will be especially focused in Sabah and Sarawak.
- The Government will continue to focus on providing stable connectivity and affordable broadband packages to enable all Malaysians to experience the full potential of digital technologies in education, economy and leisure… particularly in areas of cybersecurity, financial scams and cyberbullying.
- Malaysia’s tax revenue, at 12.6% of GDP in 2023, ranks among the lowest in ASEAN. In view of this, Budget 2025 will require measures to broaden the tax base…
- …the emphasis of expenditure for Budget 2025 will be more on delivering projects most needed by communities
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Anyone wanting to feedback on the upcoming budget may do so here:
https://cutt.ly/0eTFedfw