KUALA LUMPUR: Research houses have lauded the 2015 Budget as it displayed the government's commitment to fiscal reforms while ensuring the well-being of Malaysians.
Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib Razak tabled the budget, themed 'People Economy' in Parliament last Friday.
Najib, who is also Finance Minister, also unveiled other initiatives including the cut in personal income tax by one-three percentage points.
It would help mitigate the dampening effects of cost-push inflation and Goods and Services Tax (GST) on household disposable income, he said.
RHB Research, in a note today, said the government's announcement to implement the GST to broaden the tax base and rationalise subsidies to reduce its operating expenditure would help it achieve a balanced budget by 2020.
"These will prevent a downgrade in the sovereign rating of the nation in the immediate term," it said.
Other research companies, Hong Leong Investment Bank Research and AllianceDBS Research also agreed on the GST implementation, saying that it was positive to ensure sustainability of consumer spending growth.
Meanwhile, Maybank IB Research, which remained its 'overweight' call on the construction and oil and gas sectors, said the government measures should support equity evaluations, enabling the KLCI to scale higher.
It maintained its end-2014 KLCI target of 1,940 and introduce the end-2015 target of 2,040.-- Bernama