KUALA LUMPUR: Government subsidies on essential goods and transportation proposed in the 2018 Budget are set to ease the lives of people from the low to middle-income groups.
Penang Muslim League president Datuk Najmudeen Kadersaid the RM3.9 billion allocation on subsidies would benefit those in the bottom 40 (B40) and middle income (M40) groups.
He said they would also gain in terms of savings from a government measure to reduce the personal income tax by two per cent as announced in the budget today.
“They can better manage their household expenses with the subsidies and tax reduction,” he said in response to the budget announcement by Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib Razak.
Najmudeen said the budget had also safeguarded the interests of the farming community with a proposal from the government to set aside RM6.5 billion to assists farmers, fishermen, rubber smallholders.
“The budget’s three main components are well-balanced, with allocation for national expenditure totalling RM280 billion.
“The three - the spending of RM280billion, reducing the nation’s fiscal deficit and forecast of annual growth - are what the country needs to sustain growth,” he told the New Straits Times.
Najmudeen said the Budget was inclusive, progressive and that the initiatives and programmes would benefit people of all groups.