KUALA LUMPUR, March 25 — The Dewan Rakyat has passed the Supply (Reallocation of Appropriated Expenditure) Bill 2024 at the policy level, involving the reallocation of a sum of money from the Consolidated Fund.
Minister of Finance II Datuk Seri Amir Hamzah Azizan tabled the bill for its second reading, and it was passed by a majority voice vote following a debate.
The bill seeks to provide for the reallocation from the Consolidated Fund of RM648,537,400 in 2024 for the services and purposes specified in the bill’s schedule.
The application for the reallocation is because several ministries have been reorganised and renamed, and several new ministries have been established, with their functions transferred from other ministries in line with the formation of the new Cabinet on December 12, 2023.
The reallocation of the appropriated expenditure of the appropriated expenditure for the purposes involving the restructured and renamed ministries and the new ministries can only be done through a Supply Act.
During the policy level’s winding up, Amir Hamzah said the reallocation would not involve any additional allocation.
The minister was responding to a question from Datuk Ahmad Marzuk Shaary (PN-Pengkalan Chepa) about whether the additional Cabinet members will have cost implications on the government’s finances.
The minister clarified that the budget allocation of RM303.8 billion for operating expenditure and RM90 billion for development expenditure will be maintained as passed in the Supply Bill 2024.
“Therefore, the reallocation through the Supply (Reallocation of Appropriated Expenditure) Bill 2024 for new ministries or ministries that receive new functions, will be matched with allocation restrictions on the original ministries that surrender their duties.
“Although there are new staffing requirements, such as for new ministries, the expenditure can be absorbed through savings and optimisation of existing allocations,” he said.
The debate on the bill at the committee level will continue tomorrow. — Bernama
