I’m back at work, and just in time to catch the budget. In case anybody’s wondering where I disappeared to over the past month, I’ve been on a spiritual pilgrimage and only just got back a few days ago. It’s been a bit depressing having to come back to the real world (and the haze), but it was a simultaneously fun and scary break from work, responsibility, and everything else.
As has become traditional, I’ll be live–blogging (and tweeting) on Budget 2016 as the speech is delivered this afternoon, subject to my internet connection holding up. So stay tuned on this page.
- We’re almost live – PM has arrived at Parliament
- Some of the media outlets have jumped the gun already on the numbers
- Oh well, me too:
- 2016 Growth forecast at 4%-5% - no surprise
- Budget deficit at 3.1%, a little lower than this year’s 3.2%
- Revenue and Opex almost unchanged
- Development budget up by RM3b
- Inflation expected to remain between 2%-3%
- GST registration and compliance much better than expected (about twice as much as initially expected)
- Petronas dividend affected by oil prices – oil-related government revenue dropped 1/3 this year to RM44b
- RM21b drop in revenue, if GST had not been implemented
- 7 improvements to GST
- Controlled medicines and some others will be zero-rated (doubling the list)
- Zero-rated list for food also increased
- Decrease in registration threshold
- Approved traders scheme
- Temporary imported goods
- Vocational education
- Rebates given for prepaid telephony
- Income tax raised for the rich? 28% nice
- Investments – Malaysian Vision Valley, Cyber City Centre, Aeropolis, RAPID – doesn’t sound like much of it is actually borne directly by the govt
- Lots of other small projects, mainly rural
- MRT1/LRT extension to be completed next 2016
- Status updates on MRT2/MRT3/HSR/BRT
- RM1.2b for rural broadband
- Extension of income tax relief for tourism
- RM5.3b for agriculture
- Tax relief and exemptions for some agricultural projects – some aren’t new but extensions however
- Also for export-oriented SMEs
- 2016 – Malaysia Commercialisation Year (?)
- Focus on raising labour productivity
- A few small grants for innovation and entrepreneurship
- Taking on KRIS’ idea of industrial building system
- RM41.3b for education
- Cash and book vouchers students from for low income households
- Big money for vocational education
- Women’s corporate participation reiterated, but that’s it
- Bumi agenda – grants to existing agencies
- Sabah & Sarawak – Pan Borneo Highway (RM16.1b and zero toll), domestic air travel GST exempt, RM70m in zero-interest loans for longhouses (RM50k per unit), rice planting fertiliser subsidies, RM115 for special projects, mobile clinics
- B40 assistance
- RM600m for Bumis and Indians via Tekun
- RM60m for SME Bank
- RM200m for AIM
- RM100m for Indian NGOs
- RM90 for Chinese hawkers
- Waiting for BR1M (….)
- RM300m for Orang Asli
- RM852m for Risda and Felcra (for rice and rubber smallholders)
- Affordable Housing – Pr1ma, SPPK etc etc
- RM2b for social safety net
- RM17.3b for defence and security – quite a bit of procurement, including drones
- Civil service pay rise, minimum civil service wage set at RM1200, minimum pension at RM950
- No bonus?
- BR1M
- Under eKasih RM1050
- Under RM3000, up from RM950 to RM1000
- RM3001-4000, up from RM750 to RM800
- Single individuals below RM2000, raised from RM350 to RM400
- Total cost RM5.9b
- For the M40:
- Child Tax relief increased from RM1000 to RM2000
- Tax relief for single earner households raised from RM3000 to RM4000
- Tax relief for university going children, raised by RM2k
- Socso eligibility raised from RM3k to RM4k
- Minimum Wage Raised!!!!
- RM500 gratuity to civil service and RM250 for pensioners
And that’s a wrap.
I’ll post my first impressions here later tonight, so check back tomorrow morning.
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