Kota Kinabalu: The Institute for Democracy and Economic Affairs (Ideas) congratulates the Madani government for tabling its second Madani budget ahead of the budget year, hence, allowing parliamentarians to have sufficient time to scrutinise the fiscal policies, target and programmes for 2024.
New revenue sources are encouraging, but serious and ongoing efforts to create more fiscal space must continue in the medium to long term.
Its CEO Dr Tricia Yeoh said: “Malaysia’s growth projection of 4 per cent – 5 per cent for the budget year is realistic, and so is the fiscal deficit target of 4.3 per cent of GDP.
“The government’s target to achieve the fiscal deficit target by 3 per cent of GDP in the next three to five years as mandated by the Public Finance and Fiscal Responsibility (PFFR) Act could possibly be achieved, especially because of the announcement of new sources of revenues namely the Capital Gains Tax, Luxury Goods Tax and the increase in the Service Tax rate from 6 per cent to 8 per cent.
