Wong said government data showed that per capita income will drop by 1.2% to 49,717 ($10,700) in 2023. With proposed development spending up a third from this year, opposition lawmaker Wong Chen said it was “obviously a case of election fever spending.' He warned it could worsen national debt and may not trickle down to the people in terms of work and wages.

With a large part of the population still dependent on government handouts, analysts have said that generous budgetary pronouncements are seen as a way to win over electoral support. “It is a modestly expansionary budget filled with cash handouts, tax cuts and numerous targeted social spending that signals an incoming snap election,' he said. Wan Suhaimie Saidie, an economist with Kenanga Investment Bank, said the government appears to be on a path of fiscal discipline after three years of mega spending to deal with the COVID-19 pandemic. After Zafrul ended his speech, some lawmakers chanted: “Dissolve, dissolve!” This is the second budget under the government of Prime Minister Ismail Sabri Yaakob, who took office in August 2021 after two changes of government since 2018 elections.Įlections are due in September next year, but Ismail's Malay party has been clamoring for Parliament to be dissolved soon to pave the way for elections this year. Opposition lawmakers and an economist said the budget appeared geared toward general elections. “This budget will ensure the well-being of the people, business continuity, economic prosperity and efficiency of government services.' “This 2023 budget is expected to be a cure to the various pains currently experienced by the people,' Zafrul said in his two-hour speech.

Various incentives are also offered to businesses, farmers and other industries. Personal taxes for middle income groups will be cut by 2%, providing some 800 million ringgit ($172 million) in disposable income, he said. The budget also includes about 42 billion ringgit ($9 billion) for subsidies and social assistance to ease the public’s burden. In total, 7.8 billion ringgit ($1.7 billion) will benefit 8.7 million poor households and individuals. With many people hit by rising living costs as they try to rebuild their lives after the COVID-19 pandemic, he said the government will increase annual cash handouts to large families. Zafrul said a record 95 billion ringgit ($20.4 billion), or a quarter of the budget, are allocated for development spending, 5 billion ringgit for a COVID-19 fund and the rest are for operating expenditures.

Smaller dropbox plans