The Malaysian Insight

THE national budget for 2019 is the first presented by a new government after six decades of Barisan Nasional rule.

The Pakatan Harapan administration’s budget is tabled by Finance Minister Lim Guan Eng in the Dewan Rakyat amid challenges of a high national debt at RM1 trillion and reduced revenue from the sales and services tax (SST) that replaced the goods and services tax (GST).

The Malaysian Insight brings you highlights from the budget as it is tabled.

6.20pm: The total budget allocation for 2019 is RM314.5 billion, compared with RM290.4 billion for 2018.

Lim ends his speech by highlighting the latest developments in the government’s efforts to resolve the 1MDB financial scandal and bring those accused of corruption to justice.

Barisan Nasional MPs start booing Lim and shouting “Copy paste! Copy paste!” while waving copies of Budget 2018 drawn up by the previous government.

Dewan Rakyat Speaker Mohamad Ariff Md Yusof adjourns the session, noting that the House will not sit next week because of the Deepavali holiday and will reconvene on November 12.

6.12pm: Lim announces a yen loan secured from Japan at 200 billion yen, or RM7.4 billion, for 10 years.

6.10pm: For civil servants – Special payment of RM500 for all civil servants Grade 54 and below. Special payment of RM250 for government retirees.

All to cost the government RM1 billion and will be disbursed before year-end.

6.08pm: Fighting corruption – RM286.8 million allocation for the Malaysian Anti-Corruption Commission (MACC), up 18.5% from the previous budget.

6.05pm: Environment – RM60 million in assistance for states that make effort to safeguard protected areas and gazette new ones.

To discourage the use of plastics, incentives will be given to companies that produce environmentally friendly plastics using bio-resin and biopolymers.

Forests – to list Forest Research Institute (FRIM) and the Royal Belum State Park in Perak as Unesco World Heritage sites.

A RM2 billion allocation to encourage investments in green technology.

A RM1 billion allocation to encourage sustainable development practices.

6pm: Women and children – To boost participation of women in the workforce, RM10 million will be given to build 50 child care centres at government offices.

Target of 30% women participation in the leadership of companies and organisations set.

5.59pm: Sabah and Sarawak – Pan-Borneo highway to continue once government rationalises the cost.

Increased allocations for development of both states – RM5.009 million for Sabah compared with RM4.133 million in 2018, and RM4.346 million allocation for Sarawak compared with RM4.336 million in 2018.

5.58pm: Felda settlers – RM100 million allocation to upgrade roads, water supply projects (RM160 million)  and upgrade buildings and streetlight installation (RM35 million). This is a 51% allocation increase for the Felda community compared with the previous budget.

5.55pm: Left-behind communities – RM100 million for the Indian community covering technical training to improve job prospects for youth.

Orang Asli to get RM100 million to upgrade infrastructure and water supply, education, welfare and economic development.

5.50pm: Rural infrastructure – RM926 million to improve roads and bridges in rural areas.

Allocations of RM694 million will be given to boost electricity access and water supply (RM738 million) in rural areas.

5.46pm: Healthcare tourism – RM20 million for the Malaysia Healthcare Tourism Council (MHTC) to work with private hospitals to develop the country as a health tourism destination. This sector is expected to grow 25% in a year.

5.40pm: Khazanah Nasional Bhd to develop 32.3ha (80 acres) of land in Subang for an aerospace hub.

A RM20 million allocation will be made to launch a Buy Malaysian Goods campaign to support locally made products and services.

Pangkor Island is declared a duty-free island.

Duty-free status for shops at Port Swettenham in Penang to encourage cruise ship tourism.

Langkawi island’s status as duty-free haven to be improved.

Federal government to share 50% of revenue from tourism tax with contributing states.

5.35pm: Broadband – prices to drop by 25% under Mandatory Standard Access Pricing by the end of this year.

A RM3 million allocation and 2% interest rate subsidy will be made to the digital transformation fund.

5.30pm: National Higher Education Fund (PTPTN) – Loan repayment by scheduled pay cuts of between 2%-15% of a borrower’s monthly income, but only for those earning above RM1,000 monthly.

Tax exemption for companies that help its employees who are PTPTN borrowers pay off their remaining debt for 2019.

Loan discounts for students from B40 households who achieve first-class results.

5.26pm: Education gets the largest allocation next year with RM60.2 billion, representing 19.1% of Budget 2019. This includes:

- RM2.9 billion aid for poor students through food, cash and textbooks;

- RM652 million to upgrade schools, an increase from RM615 million in the previous budget;

- RM100 million to rebuild poor schools nationwide; 

- RM206 million to develop and provide training programmes at community colleges and polytechnics; and,

- RM400 million to enhance research activities at higher education institutions.

5.20pm: Toll – no increase in toll fares for all intra-city highways next year. This will have a financial implication of some RM700 million for the government.

Toll fares for motorcycles at Penang’s first and second bridges, as well as the Johor Causeway and Second Link, will be abolished.

5.18pm: Public transportation – RM240 million allocated to introduce monthly passes of RM100 without travel limit, including for RapidKL rail services and buses, starting January 1.

A RM20 million allocation will also be given to expand free GoKL bus services.

5.13pm: Housing development – Rehda will reduce the price of new homes by 10% in housing categories that are not price-controlled.

5.10pm: Defence allocation – RM5.9 billion to the Defence and Home Ministries.

An allocation of RM400 million will also be disbursed to improve government quarters.

5.08pm: Health scheme for the B40 group – RM100 million allocation for Skim Perlindungan Kesihatan (PEKA), a pilot project for those in the B40 category aged 50 and above, involving 800,000 people.

It will cover free mammograms, HPV vaccinations and Pap tests at government clinics and hospitals at a cost of RM20 million.

It also covers treatments for Hepatitis C, nutrition programmes for stunted children and screenings under the Enhanced Primary Healthcare (EnPHC) programme.

5.06pm: Health allocation – RM29 billion for health services, an increase of 7.8% from the last budget.

Soda tax – Starting April 1, a 40 sen tax will be imposed on every litre of drinks with additional sugar or sweeteners above a 5g per 100ml limit and fruit or vegetable juices with more than 12g of sugar per 100 ml.

5.05pm: Insurance schemes – Sistem Insurans Pekerjaan (SIP) will commence from January 1 for those who have lost their jobs.

A new scheme for the lower income group, Dana Perlindungan Kesihatan Nasional B40, will be introduced. It will cover four critical illnesses up to RM8,000, a maximum 14 days’ wages during hospitalisation at a rate of RM50 a day or RM700 a year.

Great Eastern has contributed RM2 billion in seed funding to this special B40 scheme.

5.02pm: More cash aid – RM500 one-off aid for retirees who receive pensions of less than RM1,000.

5pm: Minimum wage – increased to RM1,100 nationwide from January 1.

Government will also review labour laws to enhance labour market, workers’ welfare and curb discrimination by employers.

4.57pm: On retraining and employment – the Human Resource Development Fund (HRDF) will fund two programmes on apprenticeship and graduate enhancement aimed at young people.

Additional tax cuts will be given to companies that employ former prisoners.

To encourage employment of senior citizens aged 60 and above, their EPF contribution by employers will be reduced from 6% to 4%.

4.56pm: Electricity – a monthly subsidy will be provided to the poor and hardcore poor registered with the government. This will benefit 185,000 accounts and involves an allocation of RM80 million.

4.55pm: To stabilise the price of essential items in Sabah and Sarawak, RM150 million will be allocated to cover goods such as flour, sugar, cooking oil (1kg packets), rice, RON95 petrol, diesel and liquified petroleum gas.

4.54pm: Petrol subsidies will be fixed at 30 sen/litre for RON95 up to a cap of 100 litres a month for cars with engine capacity of not more than 1500cc and 40 litres for motorcycles not more than 125cc.

This will come from an allocation of RM2 billion and will benefit four million car owners and 2.6 million motorcycle owners.

4.53pm: On the housewives’ Employees Provident Fund scheme, or i-Suri, the government will match RM40 each month as an incentive for husbands who contribute a minimum of RM5 a month to their wives. An allocation of RM45 million has been prepared for this.

4.52pm: On cash aid, Cost of Living Aid (formerly known as the 1Malaysia People’s Aid, or BR1M) will continue and target 4.1 million households with an allocation of RM5 billion.

The aid breakdown is as follows:

- household income of below RM2,000 will receive RM1,000;

- household income of RM2,001 to RM3,000 will receive RM750;

- household income of RM3,001 to RM4,000 will receive RM500; and

- RM120 for all children below 18 years old subject to a maximum of 4 children. Disabled (OKU) children are exempted from age limits.

4.50pm: On revenue for 2019, the government expects to collect RM261.8 bilion and RM30 billion in dividends from Petronas.

4.48pm: Stamp duty on properties worth more than RM1 million will be increased from 3% to 4%.

Real Property Gains Tax (RPGT) to increase to 5% even after five years of holding the property; 10% for foreigners and properties held by a company.

Airport real estate investment trust (REIT) to be introduced, the first in the world.

Casino licences will also be more costly – up from RM120 million to RM150 million per year.

Casino duties will also be raised to 35% on gross profit.

4.45pm: On travel, a departure levy of RM20 will be charged for travel to Asean countries and RM40 to other destinations starting from June 3, 2019.

4.43pm: To recover some RM1 billion, the government will step up enforcement concerning illicit cigarette smuggling.

4.40pm: On online purchases, retailers based overseas will have to register with the Customs Department. Service tax will also be imposed on them from January 1, 2020. This will cover online content, music, videos and digital forms of advertising.

4.36pm:  On taxes, Lim says a credit system for tax deductions will be introduced on January 1. It will help curb businesses being taxed more than once and thus reduce their costs.

The government will also launch a voluntary disclosure programme for taxpayers to voluntarily declare any income that is not reported.

Inland Revenue Board also given the power to investigate any abnormal riches of individuals.

4.35pm: On the benefits of the SST, Lim says 70% or 291 out of 417 goods and services inspected have seen a drop in price since September.

4.32pm: For 2019, the federal government’s official debt as percentage of GDP is expected to reach 51.8%, while liabilities are expected to decrease to 73.5%.

The government aims to boost its revenue through the sale of land assets through a bidding process.

4.30pm: The government will also take action to recover all funds stolen or missing from 1MDB, Lim says. It has already taken possession of the super yacht Equanimity and begun the international bidding process.

4:29pm: Lim says the government has ensured savings by postponing large infrastructure projects, such as the Kuala Lumpur-Singapore High-Speed Rail (HSR), two pipeline projects, the East Coast Rail Link and by renegotiating down the cost of the MRT2 project.

Government will also continue the LRT3 project with a savings of 47%, or RM15 billion, from the initial estimated cost of RM31.6 billion to RM16.6 billion.

The RM5.2 billion Klang Valley Double Tracking Project will be re-tendered through open tender and is expected to provide substantial cost savings.

4.25pm: The government is committed to fiscal consolidation to reduce the deficit to 3.4% in 2019, 3% in 2020 and 2.8% by 2021, says the finance minister.

To avoid uncontrolled expenditure that may result in heavy debts, the government will introduce the Fiscal Responsibility Act in 2021.

The government will also establish a debt management office to check and manage government liabilities.

4:23pm: On Bank Negara Malaysia’s reserves, Lim says that as of October 15, reserves were at US$102.8 billion (RM426 billion), equivalent to 7.4 months of imports. As of September, inflation stood at 1.2%.

4.19pm: Lim says the country’s gross domestic product (GDP) is forecast to grow at 4.9%.

He says the PH government will focus on three key areas in the budget: reforming institutions, ensuring the well-being of the people and fostering a national culture of entrepreneurship.

4.10pm: Lim says the government’s true debts and liabilities at the end of June are RM1.065 billion. 

He touches on debt inherited from the mismanagement of 1Malaysia Development Bhd (1MDB), saying the previous government had “secretly” paid 1MDB debts of close to RM7 billion as of April 30 this year.

He says the government is expected to pay up to RM43.9 billion more to settle all of 1MDB’s debts.

4.05pm: Finance Minister Lim Guan Eng begins his budget speech by saying that the Pakatan Harapan government has inherited a debt-ridden administration from the previous government. – November 2, 2018.