Husni: More cash for ministries in Budget 2013

Nearly every ministry will see increased allocation under Budget 2013, Husni said. — File pic

IPOH, Sept 8 — Allocations for almost all ministries will be increased under Budget 2013 to be tabled in Parliament on September 28, Second Finance Minister Datuk Seri Ahmad Husni Hanadzlah said today.

He said the Cabinet approved the draft Budget 2013 tabled for the ministers’ perusal at the weekly Cabinet meeting on Wednesday.

“We meticulously went through one by one the financial expenditures of every ministry. We engaged the World Bank and under the Strategic Reform Initiative, we went through one by one the ministries’ expenditures.

“So, basically all the ministries will get more allocations and only one or two will get less based on the rationalisation initiative,” he told reporters after attending a Hari Raya open house hosted by the Mydin Hypermarket.

Ahmad Husni said Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib Razak, who is also finance minister, would announce in his Budget speech the government’s decision on various issues raised since last year.

“The issues are corporate tax, income tax and other related taxes, but we do not intend to increase the tax rate,” he said Ahmad Husni said the government’s higher revenue had made it possible to increase allocations for the ministries.

“As I said under the Strategic Reform Initiative, we’ve done index studies on our revenue, particularly on income tax. We also studied the loopholes.

“We believe the income tax will continue to contribute higher income for the country,” he said.

The minister said Budget 2013 was drawn up based on three basic parameters: government revenue must be more than expenditure, fiscal deficit must be reduced and debt to gross domestic product (GDP) ratio has to be maintained below 55 per cent.

“The government aims to reduce the deficit in this budget as was done in previous budgets,” he said.

On “debt-to-GDP ratio”, Ahmad Husni said below 55 per cent was the prudent level.

However, the government has no problems in repaying its debts, he said.

Malaysia’s fiscal deficit for last year dwindled to five per cent from the expected 5.4 per cent.

The federal government’s fiscal deficit for this year is projected to slide to 4.7 per cent. — Bernama