KUALA LUMPUR: In the lead up to the annual federal budget, Prime Minister Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim repeatedly pledged to spur economic growth while protecting the people’s welfare.
Benedict Weerasena, Research Director of Bait Al Amanah acknowledged that the re-tabled Budget 2023 was more well-balanced in terms of responding to the people’s needs while prioritising reforms and fiscal responsibility.
Examples of this included plans to table the Government Procurement Act to improve transparency and amend the Whistleblower Protection Act.
However, he warned that the government’s projections for the nation’s gross domestic product (GDP) to expand 4.5 per cent, higher than that of the World Bank and Fitch Solutions’ prediction of 4 per cent, may be too optimistic.
“Considering the global economic situation and instability, it is quite hard to say that this GDP growth will be higher than what is predicted,” he told Astro AWANI, adding that aims to reduce the fiscal deficit to 3.2 per cent of GDP by 2025 was “quite impossible”.
The 12th Malaysia Plan currently aims to narrow the fiscal deficit to 3.5 per cent of GDP.
Hits and misses of Budget 2023
Among the good policies rolled out under Budget 2023, said Benedict, was the introduction of wealth taxes while slashing tax rates for the middle income group.
Anwar, who is also Finance Minister, had said in his speech that the government plans to impose a Luxury Goods Tax for items such as branded watches and fashion products beginning this year.
Meanwhile, income tax for the wealthy will be raised by 0.5 to two per cent for those earning between RM100,000 and RM1 million annually.
At the same time, the personal income tax rate will be reduced by two per cent for those earning RM100,000 and below per annum.
Benedict noted that Malaysia was one of the last few countries in Asia that lacked a Capital Gains Tax.
“It will be very important to study this and consider what must be implemented correctly, along with having the right stakeholder engagement. This will definitely be an improvement in our current tax regime to ensure greater progressiveness,” he said.
He added that another good initiative was removing bureaucracy and offering incentives to local councils to make it easier for businesses to be set up.
“What remains to be seen is the implementation of all this to ensure that Malaysia still remains competitive, especially on the regional level, where we have been losing ground to countries like Indonesia and Vietnam.”
On the Budget’s misses, Benedict said one of the areas where the government has lost out on was in terms of educational reforms.
Research from Bait Al Amanah had found that Malaysia suffered from one the highest learning losses among developing countries in Asia during the COVID-19 pandemic, with a rate of loss of 0.95 years or 11.4 months.
“The good part is a supplementary food program, but it is disappointing to see a lack of initiatives across schools to address learning losses.”
Another issue was the initiative for government -linked companies (GLCs) to offer 35,000 job opportunities for the youth, graduates, veterans and other vulnerable groups.
According to Benedict, having GLCs step in to offer jobs to the unemployed was not the right move as it was more of a stopgap measure.
“The government should never step in to provide jobs in that manner because it creates many unintended consequences. They should focus more on reskilling and increasing productivity of workers instead.”
He also said tax incentives for the aerospace industry was a “misplaced allocation” as Malaysia did not have a comparative advantage in this sector, and that the funds should be given to another industry with better growth prospects.
Empowering the poor
Several initiatives did stand out to alleviate the people’s burden, particularly the goal of putting an end to hardcore poverty, said Benedict.
He pointed out that the allocation of RM750 million for the Inisiatif Pendapatan Rakyat (IPR) program to empower the poor to increase their income level on their own efforts was a novel move.
“This is a new reform to poverty alleviation, which is a focus on upward social mobility, helping the poor to be independent, to be able to earn the money that they need to be able to sustain themselves instead of creating a culture of dependency.”
However, what remains to be seen is the effective implementation of this scheme and ensuring that those who manage to graduate out of hardcore poverty do not stay on as recipients.
He also lauded the government for not “succumbing” to the pressure of the six state elections later this year and avoiding too many one-off cash aids.
Faye Kwan
Fri Feb 24 2023
Prime Minister Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim plans introduced higher taxes for the rich in Budget 2023.
Pelajar tahfiz perlu teroka bidang teknologi
Kira-kira 200,000 pelajar tahfiz di negara ini, perlu dipastikan untuk mempunyai kemampuan dan peluang menjadi tenaga penggerak kepada umat Islam Malaysia dalam meneroka bidang yang dahulu dilihat sebagai asing., tegas Perdana Menteri Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim.
Perpaduan rakyat prasyarat ekonomi mampan
Tidak semua negara Islam mempunyai ruang dan kesempatan untuk terus aman dan damai, dan mempunyai peluang untuk menikmati ekonomi yang kukuh dan berkembang seperti Malaysia, tegas Perdana Menteri Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim.
Beliau berkata, rakyat Malaysia perlu mempunyai tekad untuk memahami maksud dan keperluan perpaduan di kalangan mereka, serta kekuatan dalaman yang seterusnya dapat dijadikan tonggak untuk negara membuat langkah seterusnya.
Beliau berkata, rakyat Malaysia perlu mempunyai tekad untuk memahami maksud dan keperluan perpaduan di kalangan mereka, serta kekuatan dalaman yang seterusnya dapat dijadikan tonggak untuk negara membuat langkah seterusnya.
Tidak perlu tergesa-gesa tukar ke lesen B - JPJ
Pemegang Lesen Memandu Malaysia (LMM) Kelas B2 dan B1 tidak perlu tergesa-gesa mendaftar Program Khas Peralihan LLM Kelas B2/B1 Kepada LMM Kelas B kerana tiada had masa ditetapkan untuk permohonan.
KPWKM teruskan lapan inisiatif bantu warga emas
Kementerian Pembangunan Wanita, Keluarga dan Masyarakat (KPWKM) akan terus menggerakkan lapan inisiatif utama dalam memenuhi keperluan jagaan dan sistem sokongan terhadap warga emas.
Warga emas maut ditikam anak kandung yang berhalusinasi
Seorang pesara guru maut ditikam anak kandungnya sendiri di sebuah rumah dekat Kampung Senaling, di sini, petang Sabtu.
Menurut Ketua Polis Daerah Kuala Pilah, Superintendan Amran Mohd Ghani, siasatan awal mendapati warga emas berusia 65 tahun itu cuba memujuk anak lelakinya yang juga pemegang kad orang kurang upaya (OKU) mental yang dikatakan mahu membunuh diri.
Menurut Ketua Polis Daerah Kuala Pilah, Superintendan Amran Mohd Ghani, siasatan awal mendapati warga emas berusia 65 tahun itu cuba memujuk anak lelakinya yang juga pemegang kad orang kurang upaya (OKU) mental yang dikatakan mahu membunuh diri.
Berita tempatan pilihan sepanjang hari ini
Berikut adalah berita yang paling menjadi tumpuan sepanjang Sabtu, 5 Oktober 2024.
Berita antarabangsa pilihan sepanjang hari ini
Antara pelbagai berita luar negara yang disiarkan di Astro AWANI, berikut adalah yang paling menjadi tumpuan sepanjang hari ini.
Hezbollah lancar serangan peluru berpandu ke atas kompleks industri ketenteraan di utara Israel
Pergerakan Hezbollah di Lubnan berkata mereka telah melancarkan serangan peluru berpandu ke atas kemudahan ATA Defence Industries.
Tiada kaitan dengan pelantikan CEO MDEC, Anuar Fariz bukan adik saya - Fahmi
Menteri Komunikasi Fahmi Fadzil menyangkal dakwaan Ketua Pegawai Eksekutif (CEO) baharu Perbadanan Ekonomi Digital Malaysia (MDEC) Anuar Fariz Fadzil merupakan adiknya.
Israel lakukan persiapan untuk serang Iran - Laporan
Tentera Israel sedang bersiap untuk "tindakan balas besar-besaran dan ekstrem" terhadap Iran.