PUTRAJAYA: Opposition Leader Datuk Seri Hamzah Zainudin should present a credible alternative budget showing how to reduce the national fiscal deficit without compromising development allocations for Sabah and Sarawak.
Pakatan Harapan (PH) Sabah Chairman Datuk Mustapha Sakmud said criticising Budget 2027 was insufficient without concrete proposals on managing public finances while sustaining investment in infrastructure, education, healthcare and economic opportunities.
He was responding to Hamzah’s claim that the Government’s use of strategic national institutions, including Petronas and KWAP to support its development agenda amounted to “slaughtering the goose that lays the golden eggs”.
He challenged Hamzah to explain how his proposed approach would safeguard future generations while meeting the country’s immediate development needs.
“If the Prime Minister is not thinking about future generations, why is the fiscal deficit continuing to decline and allocations for Sabah and Sarawak continuing to increase?” asked the Sepanggar Member of Parliament.
Mustapha said the fiscal deficit had declined from 5 per cent of gross domestic product (GDP) in 2023 to 4.1 per cent in 2024 and 3.7 per cent in 2025.
It is projected to fall further to 3.6 per cent in 2026 and 3.3 per cent in 2027, compared with 6.4 per cent in 2021 and 5.5 per cent in 2022.
Federal Government borrowings also fell from about RM100 billion annually in 2021 and 2022 to RM75.6 billion in 2025, he said.
Mustapha said the figures demonstrated that fiscal consolidation was helping to reduce the debt burden on future generations rather than passing today’s financial commitments to tomorrow’s taxpayers.
The Minister in the Prime Minister’s Department (Sabah and Sarawak) also highlighted the combined RM34.9 billion allocation for Sabah and Sarawak under Budget 2027, comprising RM18.7 billion for Sabah and RM16.2 billion for Sarawak.
The combined allocation was RM2.2 billion higher than the previous year and represented the highest amount allocated to the two states, he said.
Mustapha said the allocations demonstrated that efforts to reduce the fiscal deficit need not come at the expense of development, particularly in states requiring sustained investment in infrastructure, education, healthcare and economic opportunities.
Despite geopolitical tensions, global economic uncertainty and pressure from fuel subsidies, he said the Government had maintained its development commitment to both states.
He said the opposition parties should explain how it would balance fiscal discipline with the need to address Sabah and Sarawak’s development requirements.
“The opposition leader should present a clear and detailed alternative budget, including how he intends to reduce the fiscal deficit while ensuring that development, particularly in Sabah and Sarawak, continues,” he said.
