Dewan Rakyat passes ‘mini budget’ worth RM107.7 bln unanimously

Anwar tables the mini budget in the Dewan Rakyat on Dec 20, 2022. Screenshot taken from Anwar Ibrahim's video livestream on Facebook.

KUCHING, Dec 20: The Dewan Rakyat has unanimously passed a ‘mini budget’ involving a total of RM107,718,676,650 today.

Prime Minister Dato Seri Anwar Ibrahim who is also the finance minister tabled the provision under the Consolidated Fund (Expenditure Into Account) Act 2022 which would be effective Jan 1, 2023.

He said the mini budget is mainly to cover the payment of salaries of civil servants with a total amount of RM55,959,213,200; utilities; scholarship; welfare assistance; health and education services as well as to ensure ongoing critical infrastructure projects can be continued, for the first six months next year.

“Without the approval of this temporary budget, starting Jan 1, 2023, the government cannot function and provide basic services such as medical supplies in hospitals, Supplementary Food Plan (RMT) to poor students, welfare assistance to the needy and so on,” he said when tabling the Bill in the Dewan Rakyat sitting.

He also said the Supply Bill for the year 2023 (Budget 2023), which is now under review, will be tabled in February.

At the same time, Deputy Finance Minister Datuk Seri Ahmad Maslan also moved a motion with regards to the balance of proceeds of the Malaysian Government Investment Issue (MGII) worth RM31,834 million as well as the balance of proceeds of the Malaysian Islamic Treasury Bills (MITB) of RM3,211 million for 2022 be transferred into the Development Fund. — DayakDaily