Malaysian Govt To Table Responsible 2017 Budget & Safeguard People's Wellbeing Despite External Challenges

By Mikhail Raj Abdullah KUALA LUMPUR, Oct 20 (Bernama) -- The Malaysian government will table a responsible budget for next year, taking into account the concerns of all segments of society and deliver on the promises it made to the people in the elections, a senior government official of the Ministry of Finance, said on Thursday. He said priority would be accorded to the populace in sharing the nation's wealth, offering greater opportunities to raise their income by increased productivity and working from home and easing their financial burden by enhancing their purchasing power. The official also shrugged off anticipation that the 2017 Budget would be an election budget. Instead, he said the government was focused on delivering its promises to the people in terms of benefits, services and transformation in areas such as education, health and economic development. He also said that besides the one per cent pay hike already promised to public sector employees for this year, there would be "additional benefits" for the more than 1.6 million civil servants. Overall, "there will be no painful measures in the budget," he told a media briefing on the 2017 Budget which will be tabled by Prime Minister and Finance Minister Najib Razak at the Dewan Rakyat (Malaysian Parliament) on Friday. To a question, he said that the 2017 Budget would be premised on an average crude oil price of US$45 per barrel which was a conservative stance taken by the government despite prices now hovering higher at US$52 per tonne. Asked on the collection of the Goods and Services Tax, he said the collection was expected to go beyond targets as of September this year due to greater compliance and acceptability. Cognizant of the dire need for affordable housing, he said there would be significant measures in the 2017 Budget to ensure affordable housing from both the supply and demand side. Incentives would continue to be given to small and medium scale enterprises which form the backbone of the country's industrial sector, as well as, encourage domestic investments and attract foreign direct investments. Malaysia, he said, would also exercise fiscal discipline to maintain its 'A-' standing accorded by global rating agencies by reducing the fiscal deficit to 3.1 per cent next year and achieve a balanced budget over the long-term. Measures would also be taken to help households in the B40 income category, the middle income M40 group and the T20 society, either directly or indirectly. He said the middle income group would stand to benefit from a more efficient public transportation system via the coming onstream of the extended LRT lines and the MRT line in December. He pointed out that measures by the government, in the previous budgets, helped the B40 category record the highest increase in income relative to other groups. As for young graduates, he said there would be a special programme to help them in practical skills training to enhance their employability, the details of which would be unveiled on Friday. The unemployment rate, projected at 3.4 per cent this year, would be reduced to 3.2 per cent in 2017, he said, adding that the government would continuously look at ways to increase employment opportunities in the country. He said people should look at ways to enhance their productivity and increase their income such as being Uber drivers as the government was more keen to encourage skills training and productivity rather than giving out handouts. Turning to reducing leakages in the system, he lauded the move by the Malaysian Anti-Corruption Commission which "went with guns blazing" to apprehend those responsible for the abuse of the water contract in east Malaysian state, Sabah to the tune of millions of ringgit (Malaysia's currency). On the alternative budget presented by the Opposition, he said it was a ruse to confuse the people as it was financially not feasible. Certain quarters were also spreading the false notion that the government was bankrupt when in actual fact it was resorting to prudent financial management. He said the budget would embrace creative thinking whereby resources and assets such as land and buildings would be shared across ministries to ensure better resource management, although previously, ministries guarded their assets jealously. Among added challenges Malaysia would have to grapple with, in time to come, is the country's longer life expectancy, where senior citizens were concerned that they might not have enough money to last their lifetime. By 2030, Malaysia would have an ageing population whereby 14.5 per cent of the people would be more than 60 years old, for which the government would have to adopt policies to address it over the long-term. --BERNAMA