Budget 2023 puts Anwar's skills to the test
SHAH ALAM - The re-tabling of Budget 2023 will reflect the extent to which Pakatan Harapan (PH) will be able to deliver on its 15th General Election manifesto (GE15).
It will also be interesting to see the total of funds allocated to implement the budget of the unity government under the Prime Minister, Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim.
According Sunway University economist Professor Yeah Kim Leng, the new government is expected to revise the budget and half term of the 12th Malaysia Plan (12MP) to accommodate or offset what was presented earlier.
Given the short period of time to approve the budget before the end of the year or at the latest next year, it is not advisable to start it from scratch, he told Bernama.
On Oct 7, the former finance minister, Tengku Datuk Seri Zafrul Tengku Abdul Aziz tabled Budget 2023 with a total of RM372.3 billion before the Parliament was dissolved to make way for GE15.
In a facebook post, Tengku Zafrul had explained that under Article 102(a) of the Federal Constitution, although Budget 2023 has not yet been approved, the Parliament can still approve part of the year's expenditure.
In this regard, he said, the government has time to prepare a new budget and re-table it.
According to him, a similar scenario occurred in 1999 when Budget 2000 was tabled on Oct 29, 1999 before Parliament was dissolved on Nov 11, and the General Election (GE) was held on Nov 29.
A special session of Parliament to approve half of the Budget 2000 was held on Dec 20, 1999 and completed on Feb 25, 2000 for approval.
The same is likely to happen this year, he said.
Anwar said on Friday that approving civil servants' emoluments would be the first issue to be tabled during the Parliamentary session on Dec 19 before Budget 2023 is retabled.
He said the tabling of a new or revised budget would be made a month later.
Meanwhile, Putra Business School economic analyst, Associate Professor Dr Ahmed Razman Abdul Latiff said the government also has the option to present a mini-budget for the first six months, similar to the one in 1999.
Ahmed said the move would give the Unity Government more time to include the new initiatives promised in their manifesto in the next budget for the remaining six months.
He added that the focus of the 2023 mini-budget would be to address pressing issues related to the cost of living and the high rate of inflation.
