minibudget by you.

The RM60 billion stimulus package that was announced by Deputy Prime Minister, Datuk Seri Najib Tun Razak, on 10 March 2009 was met with some amount of scepticism by the public. It is Malaysia’s largest ever fiscal stimulus package and a huge increase from the RM7 billion 2009 Budget announced last year. While the amounts sound mind-boggling, how much of that is actually going to benefit the man on the street?

Read on for my review of the 2009 Mini Budget.

Creation of Jobs And Training Opportunities

  • The Government has promised 63,000 vacancies in the civil sector – The lack of manpower in the civil sector might have been the reason for our reduced service levels. Hopefully the introduction of these new jobs will improve service levels and times.
  • 163,000 training and job placement opportunities will be created to reduce the dependencies on foreign workers – The question that comes to mind again is whether factories are willing to hire locals at a higher price or whether local workers are willing to work the same hours and dangerous conditions that most foreign workers work in.
  • Encouragement for post-graduate studies through research grants provided the post-graduate studies are done locally – There is a broad spectrum here as will that only mean local universities or private education institutions available locally? If they mean local universities, are there enough places for these Masters and PhD students?

Read more on the 2009 Mini Budget below.

Tax Reliefs, Subsidies & Investment Opportunities

  • Tax relief on interest paid on housing loans up to RM10,000 for 3 years – The caveat here is that this refers only to property purchased with SPA dates from March 10, 2009 to 31 December 2010 provided it is not rented out.
  • Subsidies on basic food necessities – Will that really stop the hawkers from increasing their food prices? It will take a mere shift of the oil price upwards for all of us to see our teh tarik increasing by 20 sen!
  • Maintenance of toll rates – A budget that proposed a reduction in toll rates would probably have been better received by the rakyat!
  • RM1.2 billion to improve infrastructure in Sabah and Sarawak - A tiny bit of that portion should be used to improve the flood mitigation in KL and the terrible roads.
  • Auto-scraping scheme with RM5,000 discount on your new Proton or Perodua car – Would you prefer to take a new loan on a new car or drive your debt-free car?
  • New LCCT to be built – What will happen to the old one that was built or merging it with KLIA to increase the traffic load in the latter?
  • 50% discount on landing costs at KLIA - This will help only if the cost savings are passed on the the travellers.
  • RTM to spend RM20 million to develop local music scene – Hurrah?

Will this budget take Malaysia out of the looming Great Recession and increase spending power for the rakyat? It remains to be seen and would be contingent on how the implementation of this mini budget will be done.