BUDGET 2026 was tabled with the reassuring confidence of prudence. It promises a narrower deficit of 3.5% of GDP, an allocation of RM421.2bil, and a renewed commitment to fiscal responsibility under the Madani framework. The message is clear: tightening its belt while sustaining welfare.
However, beneath this narrative lies a deeper question: what kind of discipline are we practising? Prudence that merely constrains, or prudence that creates? If fiscal policy is to become a lever of transformation rather than containment, debt management must evolve from a bookkeeping into a strategic architecture for national reinvention.
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