KUALA LUMPUR – The Budget 2021 was supposed to be the national recovery budget. Unfortunately, the Covid-19 pandemic had relentlessly attacked Malaysia and resulted a deeper wound to the country.
The Movement Control Order (MCO) had to be implemented again, economic activities were ceased, many lost their source of income, meanwhile, the government had to increase their deficit as it had to fork out a bigger budget to help the people and stimulate the economy.
Budget 2022 is set to be tabulated this evening. It could be the most challenging budget ever prepared by the Ministry of Finance (MoF) and every single word that comes out from the Finance Minister, Tengku Datuk Seri Zafrul Aziz’s mouth would be scrutinized and judged by the people.
PIX: Courtesy from the Department of Information / 06 NOVEMBER 2020.
Menteri Kewangan, Tengku Datuk Seri Zafrul Tengku Abdul Aziz ketika membentangkan Belanjawan 2021 di Dewan Rakyat. foto IHSAN JABATAN PENERANGAN MALAYSIA, 06 NOVEMBER 2020.
Would the government still be able to help the people and continue to stimulate the economy when its financial resources are limited, and the situation is made worse by its high deficit rate? This question has been playing on the people’s mind for a while.
Nevertheless, we should all be realistic and come back to earth.
The budget, which carries the theme Keluarga Malaysia, Makmur Sejahtera and set on three main objectives; Recovery; Rebuilding National Resilience and Catalysing Reform, the size of Budget 2022 is projected to be less than Budget 2021.
For the record, the government had allocated RM322.54 billion in Budget 2021.
PIX: SYAFIQ AMBAK / MalaysiaGazette / 22 MAY 2021.
However, if we look into the government’s financial position, including its debts and liabilities, many analysts may be disappointment by their own projection of an expansion of between five to 10 percent compared to the previous year.
Nevertheless, although there may not be a huge leap in the budget size, Budget 2022 would remain as the largest annual budget to date, and it would encompass all members of Keluarga Malaysia, especially the people and businesses that were badly affected by the Covid-19 pandemic.
Besides that, the various aids that were channeled through numerous stimulus package earlier would be improvised so that it is more thorough and can resolve the issues faced by the target groups.
There are many hopes for the government to consider issues such as social network security, low individual savings and the welfare of the self-employed or those working in the informal sectors in Budget 2022.
The Covid-19 pandemic had exposed other issues surrounding the nation, more than merely putting food on the table.
Thus, Budget 2022 is hoped to address issues surrounding domestic violence and mental health as we cannot afford to cover these problems with a dish cover. They need to be resolved and the victims need to be rescued.
In conclusion, Budget 2022 is vital for the sustainability of life post-Covid-19 and national recovery. However, the people also need to understand the restraints of the government due to the limited funds in its pocket.
We’re all aware that no one can please everyone and fulfil all demands. We also hope that the initiatives that would be announced by Tengku Zafrul at 4.00 pm would be more interesting than the colour of his Baju Melayu. -MalaysiaGazette
