PUTRAJAYA, Oct 2 — Prime Minister Datuk Seri Ismail Sabri Yaakob is confident that the Budget 2023 set to be tabled this Friday will receive the support of Members of Parliament.

"I believe the Budget will be well received because this budget is for the people..if the Opposition does not agree with the Budget, it means the opposition does not agree with what the government has allocated for the benefit of the people.

"If the Budget is not passed, in terms of emoluments, even the salaries for government employees cannot be paid. So the Budget must be approved,” he told Bernama when met after chairing the pre-council meeting for the Third Meeting of the Fifth Session of the 14th Parliament here tonight.

Ismail Sabri said the government was always open and ready to receive views from the Opposition with regard to Budget 2023.

"However, we also expect negative comments and so on from the Opposition as usual.

"Every time the Budget is tabled, they will air their views, be it positive or negative, and we accept them. Usually, those views will be taken into account by the government,” he said.

Asked whether the meeting had discussed the dissolution of Parliament, Ismail Sabri said only matters related to the Parliament were discussed.

Ismail Sabri arrived at 8.30 pm to chair the hour-and-a-half-long pre-council meeting which was also attended by Senior Minister of Public Works Datuk Seri Fadillah Yusof, Minister in the Prime Minister’s Department (Parliament and Law) Datuk Seri Dr Wan Junaidi Tuanku Jaafar, Minister in the Prime Minister’s Department (Economy) Datuk Seri Mustapa Mohamed, Energy and Natural Resources Minister Datuk Seri Takiyuddin Hassan and Domestic Trade and Consumer Affairs Minister Datuk Seri Alexander Nanta Linggi.

Among the MPs present were Datuk Seri Ahmad Maslan (Pontian), Nik Mohamad Abduh Nik Abdul Aziz (Bachok) and Datuk Seri Mohd Salim Mohd Sharif (Jempol).

The pre-council meeting was held to prepare for the Dewan Rakyat sitting to be held from tomorrow until November 29. — Bernama