Healthcare and education budgets might be getting cut as subsidy costs rise

Malaysia is proposing RM5.4 billion in reductions to healthcare and education… as subsidy costs continue to rise.

Fuel prices are felt immediately.
But changes to healthcare and education tend to happen more slowly, over time.

That’s what makes subsidy reform so difficult.

Leaders are often balancing:
what people feel today…
and what the country is trying to build for tomorrow.

This isn’t really a story about petrol.

It’s a story about trade-offs.