BUKIT MERTAJAM, Sept 23 — The Ministry of Finance (MoF) has received 10,000 responses from the public through the Budget 2024 proposal portal, said its Deputy Minister II Steven Sim Chee Keong.
Meanwhile, the face-to-face engagement sessions witnessed participation from over 8,000 people nationwide, representing stakeholders at various levels including state, sectors, and ministries, he added.
“We (MoF) have concluded engagement sessions nationwide and received various feedback, including 10,000 through the portal. All of these will be summarised and considered for Budget 2024, to be tabled in less than a month, on Oct 13.
“We are assessing all the feedback and conducting a thorough analysis. Currently, we are in the last stage of budget preparation,” the Bukit Mertajam Member of Parliament told reporters here when met at the Bukit Mertajam Rahmah Sales, at his parliamentary service centre today.
The Budget 2024 is expected to continue its focus on the people’s welfare, ongoing and improved assistance, as well as national infrastructure development.
Meanwhile, Sim said several ministries have been actively monitoring and evaluating Rahmah Sales conducted nationwide to assess the need for increasing subsidy allocations for next year, adding that allocation will be based on its impact on the public and the details will be disclosed in Budget 2024.
“Throughout this year, a total of RM66 billion has been allocated for various subsidies, including cooking oil, eggs and chicken. Additionally, to help alleviate the people’s cost of living burden, the government added an extra RM150 million to the Rahmah Sales.
“It aims to reduce the prices of essential goods by 10 to 30 per cent. The government also provides RM8 billion in cash contributions via Rahmah Cash Aid (STR). All of this is to ease the burden on the people for the short term, due to the current global economic conditions,” he said.
At today’s Rahmah Sales, 22 essential items, including rice, sugar, flour, eggs, and cooking oil, were available from 8am. Over 2,000 visitors attended and purchased these items at 10 to 30 per cent cheaper (than market price), Sim added. — Bernama
