by ANIS HAZIM / pic BERNAMA
THE Finance Ministry (MoF) today held the Budget 2023 Consultation Council which involved nearly 300 participants from the private sector, academics, non-governmental organisations and civil society organisations to propose appropriate measures to be considered in Budget 2023.
“The preliminary process of Budget 2023 consultation has been initiated since June with an invitation to stakeholders to submit a budget memorandum leading to issues and proposals for the Budget 2023,” MoF said in a statement today.
Budget 2023 will be planned and drafted based on five main aspects highlighting the people, business, economy and government, which in line with the theme of “Strengthening Rehabilitation and Facilitating the Way of Reform towards Malaysia’s Economic Resilience and Family Welfare Sustainability”.
MoF received a total of 242 memorandums with several proposed solutions.
“More than 30 proposals were put forward during the Budget 2023 consultations,” it said.
Among the main topics include addressing the increase in the cost of living of people, the development of agricultural industry, public healthcare, the implementation of targeted subsidies and increasing public, private and social sector cooperation toward the prosperity of Malaysian families.
It also addresses increasing the role of the government and government-linked companies to develop vendors, especially young entrepreneurs, women, micro, small and medium enterprises and more inclusive budgets for vulnerable people, women and persons with disabilities.
“Today’s discussion is a turning point for a more comprehensive governance session to be held in the near future to refine the Budget 2023 input,” it added.
MoF said it will hold a series of focus group meetings to discuss selected areas.
The ministry has invited the public to propose suggestions for the upcoming budget which is slated to be tabled in the Dewan Rakyat on Oct 28.
It said the Budget Proposal Portal 2023 is an effort to make the annual budget preparation process more transparent.
The portal is open until Sept 9, 2022 through https://budget.mof.gov.my/