Budget 2027: Financial Leakages Curbed, Government Savings Returned to the People

PUTRAJAYA: Budget 2027 reflects the country’s sound financial management, with savings generated now being channelled back to the people rather than benefiting only certain groups, said Prime Minister Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim.

Anwar, who is also Finance Minister, said the government had to address the country’s financial priorities first before gaining greater capacity to channel savings back to the people.

“That is why people ask me, why couldn’t this have been done two years ago? We addressed the issues according to their order of priority, based on the principle of awlawiyah, which means correcting the most important matters first.

“Money must be saved, not wasted, lost or leaked. Now that the savings have accumulated, they can be returned to the people, not channelled towards ministers’ allowances,” he said during a special interview on the MADANI Budget 2027 here today.

Anwar said good governance practices had enabled the government to provide various forms of assistance and initiatives to the people, including sports shoes and financial assistance for rubber smallholders and paddy farmers.

He said the approach formed the foundation for strengthening government governance, allowing various welfare initiatives to be implemented gradually according to the country’s financial capacity.

The Prime Minister said the government had previously needed to focus on debt management and urgent needs, including school facilities and housing for military and police personnel.

Anwar said the savings achieved had now provided the government with some additional financial flexibility to increase assistance to the people, but such efforts must be accompanied by continued financial discipline.

“And now, I can say that we have slightly greater financial capacity. But the condition is that we must not allow leakages to happen again,” he said.

During the tabling of Budget 2027 yesterday, Anwar announced several benefits for the people, including an increase in allocations for Sumbangan Tunai Rahmah (STR) and Sumbangan Asas Rahmah (SARA) to RM16 billion in 2027, compared with RM15 billion previously.

Under the initiative, all STR recipients will receive SARA assistance of up to RM150 per month, or RM1,800 annually.

In addition, Malaysians aged 18 and above who are not STR recipients will receive two RM100 SARA MADANI payments, one before Aidilfitri and another in conjunction with the country’s 70th independence anniversary celebrations.

The Prime Minister said the two forms of assistance would benefit up to nine million STR recipients and 13 million Malaysians respectively, including those in the middle-income (M40) group.

The Early Schooling Assistance will also be increased to RM200 from RM150 this year, with an allocation of RM1 billion benefiting 5.3 million students.

The government will also provide a one-off special financial assistance payment of RM1,000 to 38,000 taxi drivers, including hire-car drivers, and 15,000 school bus drivers nationwide, using proceeds from the sale of special H-series vehicle registration numbers.

The assistance will be distributed next week as part of the government’s efforts to return the proceeds to the people.

BERNAMA