PUTRAJAYA, June 15 — The federal spending plan for 2018 will be tabled in Parliament on October 27, said Datuk Seri Najib Razak today.
The prime minister and finance minister also said the government will hold sessions to gather views and feedback from various stakeholders in drafting Budget 2018.
“These sessions are an important platform for the public and private sectors, and for NGO’s to give their feedback towards current issues and ways to address them.
“We want to listen to everyone because we are a government that is open and we put the people’s priority first,” he said during his speech at the 2018 Budget Consultation Session held at the Finance Ministry.
Present here today were Second Finance Minister Datuk Seri Johari Abdul Ghani, Deputy Second Finance Minister Datuk Lee Chee Leong, Treasury secretary-general Tan Sri Dr Mohd Irwan Serigar Abdullah, and Bank Negara Malaysia (BNM) governor Datuk Muhammad Ibrahim.
Najib said that the government had always placed a strong emphasis on addressing bread and butter issues faced by the people.
“We must not forget about the rakyat because, at the end of the day, the rakyat must benefit from our economic policies. We must make sure that levels of income and the quality of life for Malaysians is improving.
“That is why affordable housing projects, managing the cost of living and certain initiatives to supplement the people's income will be given a high priority,” said the prime minister.
Najib said that the Bantuan Rakyat 1Malaysia (BR1M) cash aid and rationalisation subsidies have been effective in preventing the misallocation of resources as highlighted by the World Bank, the International Monetary Fund (IMF), and international ratings.
“These two initiatives have given them the confidence and that’s good for us.”
The government will continue to embark on “people-centric” projects, such as the upcoming launch of the second phase of the Mass Rapid Transit’s (MRT) Sungai Buloh-Kajang line on July 17.
“Public transportation is quite high up in terms of our priority and we will continue to develop a set of policies that are well-balanced.
“We want an inclusive society with no one being left behind. The disabled, the Orang Asli must all feel that they are benefiting from our economic policies.”
