KUALA LUMPUR, Oct 30 — The government has not sidelined the country’s youth, Prime Minister Datuk Seri Ismail Sabri Yaakob said when highlighting measures from Budget 2022 that benefit the group.

He pointed out that Finance Minister Tengku Datuk Seri Zafrul Abdul Aziz announced 25 such measures when the latter tabled the federal spending plan in Parliament yesterday.

"Who said there are no youth measures in the Budget? In fact, we have 25 incentives that are either directly or indirectly benefit youths.

"We just did not group it in one chapter such as for the OKU (persons with disabilities) or women,” he said in his opening speech for the celebration of National Youth Day at the Grand Hyatt Hotel here today.

Ismail said among the incentives were the perantiSiswa scheme to provide tertiary students from B40 households with table computers as well as "e-start” that gave full-time students RM150 in e-wallet funds.

"The students belong to the youth,” he said.

Ismail also highlighted other incentives such as JaminKerja, the government’s efforts to create 600,00 new jobs, and the MyStep scheme for 80,000 contract openings that would primarily benefit youths.

"Tell your friends these if they say this Budget did not have anything for youths,” he said.

At a press conference after the ceremony, the prime minister said the budget was inclusive and included M40.

He insisted his government’s "Malaysian Family” concept meant no group would be marginalised, especially in the context of the federal budget.

"We do not put a specific title but the benefits (to M40) are, for example, in housing,” he said.

Putrajaya allocated RM1.5 billion to continue with affordable housing initiatives in Budget 2022 and another RM2 billion to provide credit guarantees to encourage first-time buyers.