PUTRAJAYA, Sept 5 — The government will need to rationalise and optimise a total RM107 billion in social expenditure allocated under the 2019 Budget, especially those channelled as government aide.
Finance Minister Lim Guan Eng said this was because the allocation was managed by several ministries that resulted in overlapping functions and distribution of aid.
“The public sector needs to reduce these overlapping functions to ensure government aid has high impact and channelled only to the deserving,” he said at a Budget 2020 focus group session themed “Increasing Social Protection For The Needy” here today.
The session held at the Finance Ministry here was also participated by Deputy Prime Minister Datuk Seri Dr Wan Azizah Wan Ismail, who is also women, family, and community development minister.
The RM107 billion allocated for the social sector was 34 per cent of the total expenditure under Budget 2019 with RM2.4 billion channelled to the Women, Family, and Community Development Ministry.
Of this, Lim said RM98 million were spent on various programmes involving the disabled community (RM26 million), children (RM25 million), women (RM16 million), senior citizens (RM11 million) and the homeless (RM9 million).
Lim also stressed the importance of helping the underprivileged and the B40 group be part of the Malaysian economic digitalisation era, from 18 percent of the gross domestic product (GDP) currently to 21 percent in 2022.
“In this new economic era, access to the Internet is no more considered a luxury, but a basic human right,” he said.
Lim said Malaysia’s second quarter 2019 GDP growth which expanded to 4.9 per cent from 4.5 per cent in the previous quarter had exceeded market expectations, making Malaysia one of the few economies to experience faster growth this year.
Lim stressed, however, that a nation’s prosperity was not judged merely on accelerated GDP growth or achieving high income status.
Lim said the government’s challenge now was to ensure the nation’s economic growth process was an inclusive one that is accompanied by a rise in living standards enjoyed by all strata of society.
“Inclusive development also means there must be an integrated social safety net that is capable of protecting all Malaysians, especially the underprivileged and the needy,” he said. — Bernama
