Malaysian Budget 2018 Highlights

With the general election having to be called by middle of next year, all eyes are now fixated on the 2018 Budget tabled by Prime Minister Najib Razak last Friday, 27^th of October. You know that you need to pay attention to it when even the opposition has admitted to it being ‘rakyat-friendly’. Here are some highlights from both the proposed budget as well as the annual economic report released on the same day.

• The proposed budget stands at RM 280.25 billion – an increase of 7.5% from the RM 260.8 billion in 2017

• The revenue collection for 2018 is projected to expand around 6.4% to RM 239.9 billion

• RM 234.25 billion allocation for operating expenditure and RM 46 billion for development

• RM 6.8 billion to be allocated to government cash aid program BR1M

• No GST for reading materials, including magazines, comics and journals, effective January 1, 2018

• Reduction in individual income tax rates by 2% for those earning between RM20,000 to RM70,000 annually ~
  • RM20,001 – RM35,000: 5% to 3%
  • RM35,001 – RM50,000: 10% to 8%
  • RM50,001 – RM70,000: 16% to 14%

• Abolishment of toll collection on Federal Highway at Batu Tiga, Shah Alam and Sungai Rasau in Selangor; Bukit Kayu Hitam in Kedah and Johor’s Eastern Dispersal Link

• Civil Servants
  • Special payment for civil servants of RM 1,500 (RM 1,000 in Jan 2018 plus RM 500 towards Hari Raya 2018)
  • Unrecorded leaves to public servant up to 7 days for umrah
  • Allow women with 5 months pregnant onwards (and husband) to leave work an hour earlier if both are working in the same location
  • Increase total maternity leave from 300 to 360 days subject to a maximum of 90 days a year
  • Medical facilities are extended to parents of retirees
  • Set minimum pension of RM 1,000 per month

• Senior Citizens, Disabled, Children
  • Increase allowance for senior citizens RM 50 to RM 350 per month (allocation of RM 603 million)
  • Assistance to children from poor families with an allocation of RM 245 million
  • Increase allowance for working and unemployed PWDs as well as caretakers of PWDs by RM 50 per month

Get the detailed Budget 2018 Touchpoints from The Ministry of Finance website here. The full 2018 Budget speech text can be found here.