What’s in the RM372.3bil Budget 2023

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PETALING JAYA: Finance Minister Tengku Zafrul Aziz has tabled Budget 2023, announcing an allocation of RM372.3 billion.

This represents a RM40.2 billion increase compared to the RM332.1 billion allocated for 2022.

Around RM272.3 billion has been allocated for operational expenditure and RM95 billion for development.

Here are the highlights of Budget 2023:


Education

• RM55.6 billion allocated for education, the biggest in the budget for a ministry.
  
• RM825 million in early school aid for students, with students receiving RM150 regardless of their parents’ incomes.
  
• RM777 million for supplementary food programme (RMT), benefiting 800,000 students and 7,300 canteen operators.
  
• RM2.3 billion to ensure students have a conducive and safe learning environment.
  
• RM1.1 billion to repair and maintain all schools, including vernacular and religious schools.
  
• RM430 million to construct five new schools in Sabah, Sarawak, Terengganu, Cyberjaya and Selangor.
  
• RM20 million to improve facilities in special needs schools.
  
• RM188 million to set up 10 Kemas daycare centres.
  

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Feel-good Budget 2023 will give BN big boost for GE15: observers

KUALA LUMPUR – The country’s biggest budget unveiled this afternoon will, to a large extent, help Barisan Nasional (BN) capture voter support ahead of an impending general election, according to political observers. 

Granted, the coalition’s win and return to federal power could hinge on when the election is called, they said.

This comes on the back of widespread speculation over the date of the dissolution of Parliament to pave the way for the national polls, amid Umno exerting political pressure on Prime Minister Datuk Seri Ismail Sabri Yaakob.

National Professor Council senior fellow Jeniri Amir said that if Umno hopes to benefit from the supposed feel-good factor of the budget, it is only wise for Ismail Sabri, the party’s vice-president, to push for an immediate general election.

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Why must taxpayers ‘sacrifice’ to help developers? – Datuk Chang Kim Loong

The National House Buyers Association (HBA) acknowledges the challenges faced by the finance minister in tabling Budget 2023 today in view of the post-Covid-19’s effect on the global and regional economies as well as the financial health of Malaysia.

Our comments and response to Budget 2023 on matters relating to the property sector only are as follows:

Stamp duty discount of up to 75% for houses worth between RM500,000 to RM1 million.

Does such an incentive includes sub-sale transactions in secondary market?

Although the objective of the stamp duty discount is to reactivate the property industry and also to spur economic growth, the measures appear to be not well thought out again.

It is still very difficult to understand why taxpayers’ money is being “sacrificed” to facilitate the niche market buyers, for the benefit of the housing developers, because that is exactly what is being done here.

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