Difficult times require governments to cut back on their expenditure and raise income. How will this affect you?
Budget 2016 is the first of five budgets to be tabled under the five-year 11th Malaysia Plan (11MP). One of the aspirations of that Plan is the completion of Malaysia’s transformation into a high income, advanced nation.
In the time between Budget 2015 and Budget 2016, however, economic pressure on ordinary people has increased substantially, following the introduction of the GST on April 1, 2015. Further weakening of the Ringgit may have caused prices for many imported goods to rise.
This year’s Budget has the promising theme of “Prospering the Rakyat”. We study the proposed changes and fund allocations included in the Budget to see which households stand to benefit. We summarise the Budget’s impact on Malaysian households according to three tiers of household income groups: Low (“Bottom 40” or B40), Middle (“Middle 40” or M40) and High (“Top 20” or T20).
