Budget 2023: Govt should study and investigate current situations of the rakyat, say economists

SHAH ALAM - The government should study and investigate the current situations faced by the people for the upcoming Budget 2023.

Universiti Utara Malaysia economist Dr K. Kuperan Viswanathan said for Budget 2023, the government should focus on the B40 group as many of those in the M40 group have shifted to the B40 group due to the pandemic.

“The government should allocate additional funds for childcare and health care, as well as move toward a universal income support plan for the B40 group and incentives for the M40 group in terms of childcare, health care, and education,” he told Sinar Daily.

Echoing K. Kuperan’s view, PKT Logistics Group Sdn. Bhd Chairman Datuk Jalilah Baba also agreed that the government should look into the current situations faced by the B40 and M40 group as a whole.

“Most affected by the current cost of living are the B40 and M40 groups so the governments should focus on job creation for the locals & reduce dependence on foreign workers.

“On the other hand, the government should also look into providing training programs to upgrade the skills of local workers to replace foreigners,” she added.

Jalilah also added that the government should introduce flexible working hours.

“By taking this step, I believe that it will help the country to reduce its dependency on foreign workers,” she said elaborated.

Meanwhile Universiti Tun Abdul Razak economist Dr Barjoyai Bardai said the government needed to specifically look into issues affecting the M40 group as they were also affected badly by the pandemic.

“By studying these issues affecting this group, the government will able to offer concrete measures to overcome them," he said.

A new budget 2023 will be tabled in Parliament on Feb 24th 2023.

Prime Minister Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim had announced recently that the new budget will not be tied to the plan announced in October 2022,

However, he said the recommendations made in the previous budget plan will be taken into account in the coming Budget 2023 figures.

"All aspects will not be tied to the previous budget even if we take into account the suggestions made before. This time the budget will be made new in its core, policies and modifications," he told reporters after the Budget 2023 Dialogue on Tuesday.

The Income range for the B40 household group istarts at less than RM 2,500 to RM 4,849 meanwhile for the M40 household group the household income range is from RM 4,850 to RM 10,959.

The Finance Ministry also launched the Budget 2023 Proposal Portal, https://bit.ly/cadanganbelanjawan2023 to make the annual budget preparation process more transparent and inclusive which welcomes the involvement of all levels of the people.