GEORGE TOWN: The government is tightening its own belt through internal cost-cutting measures rather than reducing development and welfare expenditure for the people, said Steven Sim Chee Keong.
The Entrepreneur Development and Cooperatives Minister said that the Federal Government’s savings exercise involved only operating expenditure and would not affect development expenditure.
Among the measures being implemented are reductions in overseas travel by ministers and civil servants, the scaling down of large events and functions, and a temporary freeze on new staff recruitment.
“If overseas trips are unavoidable for important meetings, then the number of delegates and the duration should be minimised,” he told reporters after a DAP walkabout at the Pulau Tikus market on Sunday (May 3).
Sim said his ministry was targeting approximately RM20mil in savings through cuts to operational expenditure.
“The government is also facing rising subsidy commitments, with the Finance Ministry estimating an increase from an initial RM15bil to RM58bil,” he added.
Sim stressed that his ministry’s RM750mil allocation for development expenditure this year would remain unchanged.
“We remain committed to utilising this allocation to safeguard the people and the country’s economy,” he said.
Sim, who is the Penang DAP chairman, was accompanied by Penang Chief Minister Chow Kon Yeow and Pulau Tikus assemblyman Joshua Woo.
