KUALA LUMPUR: Malaysia on Friday unveiled a record budget spending for 2025, focusing on economic restructuring to improve its revenues through subsidy rationalisation and fiscal reforms.
The government also released its fiscal outlook and annual economic reports.
The following are some excerpts from the budget and reports:
2025 BUDGET FORECASTS
* Fiscal deficit at 3.8% of GDP vs 4.3% in 2024
* Medium term deficit target at 3%
* Expenditure: RM421bil ($98 billion), up 3.3% from RM407.5bil in 2024
* Within that spending, development expenditure at RM86bil and operating expenditure at RM335bil
* Subsidies and social assistance spending seen at RM52.6bil, down 14.4% from RM61.4bil this year; government to further rationalise subsidies.
* Revenue RM339.7bil, up 5.5% from RM322.1bil in 2024
* Dividend from Petronas to remain at RM32bil
* Federal government debt-to-GDP ratio seen steady at around 64%.
2025 ECONOMIC FORECASTS
* Economic growth in 2025 projected at 4.5% to 5.5%
* Domestic demand growth forecast at 6.1%, buoyed by private sector expenditure
* Gross exports seeing rising 3.9%
* Headline inflation seen at 2% to 3.5%, vs 1.5% to 2.5% in 2024
* Debt-to-GDP ratio to remain around 64% by the end of 2024 and 2025
* Current account surplus seen at RM49.1bil
MONETARY STANCE & RINGGIT
* Monetary policy guided by domestic considerations, and remains unaffected by the timing and policy path of other central banks.
* Ringgit currency seen supported by favourable domestic economic outlook and structural reforms, narrowing interest rate differential, restored investor confidence - Reuters
