This year\u2019s budget wasn\u2019t so much about winners and losers, but the Finance Minister still pulled a few surprises out of the bag.<\/p>\n
Everyone expected the fight to contain the pandemic and win the war against COVID-19 to be the main focus of the budget and the minister didn\u2019t disappoint.<\/p>\n
Finance Minister Datuk Seri Tengku Zafrul Tengku Abdul Aziz announced that while the Malaysia’s Temporary Measures for Reducing the Impact of Coronavirus Disease 2019 (Covid-19) Act 2020 already allows the government to allocate RM45 billion for the COVID-19 fund, it’s not enough. The government needs to ask for another RM20 billion to fight the pandemic in this budget proposal.<\/p>\n
He also highlighted that the government expects to spend about RM3 billion on the COVID-19 vaccine when it becomes available.<\/p>\n
Among the biggest winners is education. A total of RM50.4 billion will be spent by the government on schools, higher education and Technical and Vocational Education and Training (TVET).<\/p>\n
Besides the needed funds to upgrade and repair schools, this year\u2019s budget also provided initiatives to get laptops to lower income and disadvantaged students.<\/p>\n
TVET programmes received a whopping RM6 billion with various initiatives targeted to give youths the opportunities to get the training they need to find jobs. Other parts of education like sports, professional courses, internship opportunities also received funding as well as transportation pass aimed to help all students get the education they need for a better future.<\/p>\n
Meanwhile, the eBelia programme will provide a one-off RM50 credit to e-wallet accounts for youths between 18 and 20 years old.<\/p>\n
The COVID-19 pandemic has really thrown a spanner in the economy. We are seeing the highest spike in the unemployment rate<\/a> at\u00a05% in April, the highest in 30 years. One of the biggest concerns Malaysians have is the higher unemployment rate as well as the financial hardships that they are going through as a result of income loss.<\/p>\n The Government recognises the concern and Tengku Zafrul has proposed a number of initiatives to tackle the issue of unemployment as well as introducing the Bantuan Prihatin Rakyat (BPR) to replace Bantuan Sara Hidup (BSH).<\/p>\n\n
| Household Income<\/b><\/th> | \n(aged 21 and above)<\/center><\/th> \nmore children<\/center><\/th>\n<\/tr>\n<\/thead>\n\n Less than RM2,500<\/b><\/td> | RM2,501 - RM4,000<\/b><\/td> | RM4,001 - RM5,000<\/b><\/td> | Budget 2021 also set aside RM3.7 billion to create 500,000 employment opportunities for Malaysians through initiatives such as PenjanaKerjaya, reskilling and upskilling programmes, Short-term Employment Programme (MySTEP), Targeted Wage Subsidy Programme and social protection efforts.<\/p>\n <\/span>Vape tax, lower income tax and EPF Account 1 withdrawals<\/strong><\/span><\/h2>\n |
|---|