PUTRAJAYA, 31 May 2018:
A total of RM700 million has been allocated for the Aidilfitri special payment for civil servants and government pensioners, Finance Minister Lim Guan Eng said today.
He said that – as announced by Prime Minister Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamad yesterday – a special payment of RM400 was for civil servants in Grade 41 and below and RM200 for pensioners.
“The number of staff who will enjoy this aid is 1.2 million or 70% of the total 1.6 million civil servants.”
Lim was also asked about the Aidilfitri special payment of RM500 for all civil servants announced in Budget 2018 by former Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib Razak.
He said Budget 2018 did not make any such promise but, if the Barisan Nasional had won the general election, Najib would have had to put through a supplementary supply bill to make the payment.
Separately, Lim said Malaysia will be able to meet its budget deficit target for 2018 even though the scrapping of a goods and services tax will blow a RM21 billion hole in the government’s wallet.
He said the lost revenue from the goods and service tax (GST) – due to be axed tomorrow – would be offset by rising oil-related revenues, spending cuts on non-essential projects, increased dividends from govt-linked firms and a new sales tax expected to be introduced in September.
Malaysia’s new government has said it has RM1 trillion in debt and liabilities, blaming the ballooning figure on abuses by the previous administration led by Najib.
“We are mindful that federal government debt which has exceeded RM1 trillion, requires fiscal discipline.”
Lim said the government’s projected fiscal deficit would increase slightly to RM40.1 billion in 2018 from RM39.8 billion – which would maintain the budget deficit at 2.8% of GDP.
He said the current account balance – government revenue after operating expenditure – will remain positive, and that there were no plans to revise economic growth forecasts for now.
When asked about a possible public listing of state petroleum firm Petronas as an option for raising funds, Lim said such a proposal “has not been put forward to the government”.
Lim said higher dividends from government-linked entities such as Petronas, sovereign wealth fund Khazanah Nasional Bhd and the central bank could deliver an extra RM5 billion this year. That would be alongside RM5.4 billion of extra tax revenue from oil companies in Malaysia, and RM10 billion saved through reviews of high-priced projects.
A sales tax due to be introduced on Sept 1 will add an additional RM4 billion to the public purse this year, the finance ministry estimated.
– Bernama, Reuters